The Witch's Apprentice
by Scorpinac
Summary: In a slightly alternate universe, Witch Haggar takes an apprentice to one day leave her evil magic to. How'll this change the events of Voltron? And what does fate have in store for Sakura Kinomoto? Warning: I'm mix-matching facts from Voltron & GoLion
1. Student And Teacher

Greetings, readers! This story came to me while re-watching the old Voltron series, and I worked on it until I got this. Enjoy!

Disclaimers: I own nothing here, Voltron belongs to WEP and Toei, and Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, Nelvana, and Pioneer. I'm just playing around with them. And yes, the CCS characters are going to very OOC, and Haggar may seem slightly OOC during the early chapters. Deal.

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The Witch's Apprentice

By Scorpinac

Chapter 1: Student and Teacher

The nightmare began suddenly, as most often do. She was playing in the yard, not a care in the world, when the first laser strike hit, destroying a sizable chunk of the nearby city. She looked upwards at the sky, staring in fright at the fleet of ships bearing down on her world, the insignia of the skull emblazoned on the three largest. Her mother then ran out, scooping her into her arms and running back inside as the ships began to rain down further fire, her dolls forgotten in the grass. Inside, her mother carried her to the basement, where her father and older brother already awaited, her father closing the door behind them as they dove inside.

"Who are they?! What's happening?!" her brother asked, trying to be brave for his sister, and failing miserably as only a nine year old can.

"The Galrans!" her mother cried, and her father said a bad word, _the _bad word, her brother going silent. Outside they could hear the continuing firing of the ships, as well as the returning fire of the planet's local militia as they finally got off their rears and fought back. The firing continued, and then was joined by the distinctive roar of one of _them_. She squeezed her mother tighter in her fear, her brother having told her all about _them_. How they came at night to devour bad little kids – a robeast. But she was a good girl, she knew she was. She didn't deserve to be eaten! The roars were soon joined by voices, the enemy having dropped troops to the ground to do battle with the local militia while maintaining support from the air.

The noise went on for awhile, she wasn't sure how long, it felt like days or even months, but was actually only a few hours. Then they heard it, men moving around upstairs, looking for something, looking for them. They stayed quiet, her mother moving her to her brother's arms while she and her father picked up a pair of heavy objects to use as clubs, a broken chair leg and a bat respectively, and a moment later the basement door opened, three alien troopers stepping inside. They had medium gray skin with yellow eyes and wore light gray uniforms with dark gray arms and legs ending in light gray gloves and boots. She literally couldn't tell one soldier from another, they all looked exactly alike. One turned and shouted something in their alien language back inside the house while they aimed their laser rifles at the family below.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender peacefully," a second spoke to them after tapping something on his collar, a translator.

"Get out of my house!" her father yelled back at them. A moment later another alien soldier appeared at the top of the stairs, this one dressed in a green uniform with a mechanical device at the center of his chest, yellow stripes were along the sides of his legs, and he wore a green cape that was black at the shoulders. His medium blue skinned face was adorned by a green helmet with a white curved horn coming out of each side and a straight one out of the top, the forehead decorated by a yellow insignia. He stared down at them, his own rifle in hand.

"Drop the weapons and surrender, this is your last warning!" he barked at them.

"Like I told him, get out of my house!" her father repeated, and her mother tightened her grip on her makeshift club. The alien just stared at them for a moment, then pointed with his left index and middle fingers, giving the order to fire. And fire he and the other three did, her mother and father falling before her and her brother.

"NOOOO!!!" the two of them cried in shock and horror, and before they could think of anything else the troops had come down the stairs and grabbed them, the green clad one taking hold of her and pulling her out of her brother's grip almost instantly.

"SAKURA!!!" he called her name, the first time she'd even remembered it since the attack on her world began.

"NII-CHAN!!" she cried back, using her planet's local word for "big brother". The aliens ignored them, carrying them out of the house and to some nearby ships, her brother being dragged by two of the multi-gray-toned troops to one ship, and the green clad alien carrying her to another.

"LEMME GO!!! LEMME GO!!! NII-CHAN!! NII-CHAN!!!" she screamed in fright, wanting the safety of at least one family member, and being denied.

"SILENCE!" the alien roared at her, and she quieted down immediately, the alien handing her off to another of the cut-and-paste soldiers who carried her off further into the ship and finally dropped her in a small cell, closing and locking the door behind her. It was small, a bed and a potty and nothing else, barely room for an adult, but otherwise spacious for a lone child. Sakura curled up quietly into a ball, crying to herself over her lost family. After some more time two other girls around her age were tossed in with her, and then one alien commented something to another, the two again speaking the alien language. The other two girls cried as well, whether for their own families or for themselves she did not know, nor cared.

A little more time passed, and then she heard a loud roar coming from the ship's engine and felt, for the first time, the intensity of g-forces as the ship lifted off into space. Sakura glanced up for the first time since the other girls were tossed in, and saw a lone guard sitting outside the cell in a simple chair, cleaning his nails with a file. He seemed otherwise disinterested in her and her cell mates, acting like nothing bad had happened at all. It stirred an anger in her, but at the same time her fear and grief took priority over any other feelings, and she dropped her head back down to cry once more. After a few moments the g-forces ceased and a split second later were replaced by artificial gravity as the ship plunged into the blackness of space.

The next several days passed in a blur for the child, Sakura was not even sure just how long it had been since her capture. Once or twice a day a guard would come by and toss in a plate of food, and he and the ever present guard in the chair laughed in merriment as she and the other two girls fought for their shares of the rare nourishment. The eldest/biggest of the three had been quick in claiming the sole bed, relegating Sakura and the other to the floor. Sakura didn't really care; her mommy was gone, her daddy was gone, her nii-chan was gone, she was really just waiting for the aliens to kill her, too. She wasn't even sure when she'd finally run out of tears, only that she'd had. And then she felt it, the sudden shift from artificial grav to real grav as the engines roared back to life to control the ship's descent onto another planet.

"*We back on Planet Galra already?*" the sitting guard asked someone out of site in his native tongue, an affirmative sounding response following. Only the word Galra had made any sense, and she knew in her heart where they were – Planet Galra, home of the Galra Empire, a place better known to all as "Planet Doom." Her small heart seized in fear again, and a will to live filled her, Sakura crawling under the bed as far back as she could go, right up against the back wall of the cell, and curling into a ball as tightly as possible.

'It's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream,' she repeated to herself mentally over and over again.

The old witch sighed, stroking her familiar, a blue feline named Cova. It was a quiet moment, and Haggar was lost in thought, mostly centered on the ever inevitable future. The future beyond her life and what it would mean for her beloved planet Galra and the Empire. Her primary concern was that some idiot would mess with something in her lab that was somewhat overly volatile, and then...well, that was actually a worst case scenario, really. But still, she couldn't lie, least of all to herself. Even her dark magic couldn't prolong her life forever. The sad truth was that even that was beginning to fail her. The clock was ticking, and she could reasonably hazard a guess at how long she had left, and it was leaving her just a bit nervous.

What she really needed was an heir, someone to leave all her magics and potions and spells to after she was finally gone from the universe. But who? And did she still have the time to train one? She sighed again, still stroking her cat, when her magical senses suddenly flared up in alarm. A magic aura was approaching, a very large one, and it grew ever closer to the planet by the second.

"Hmm, clearly subtlety isn't this idiot's strong point," she mused to herself as she stood and summoned her wooden staff to her hand, giving Cova one last stroke before exiting the room. She marched resolutely out into the hall to the nearest window, gazing out and spotting a pair of incoming slave ships, the aura clearly coming from the one on the left. It was practically a neon sign screaming, "Here I am, kill me!" Well, she was hardly one to turn down such a clearly engraved invitation, and marched smartly through the castle corridors until she reached one of the ground floor entrances that let out towards the landing docks.

A quick hike across the field between castle and docks and she was there, waiting only momentarily as the slave ships finished landing and shut off their engines before walking inside the docks and heading to the appropriate ship, the aura still blazing strong. As she walked up the entry ramp, some of the guards were just starting to disembark with the first load of slaves, Captain Mogor at the lead, the green clad officer turning in surprise at her appearance.

"What are you doing here, old witch?" he asked, not really trying to hide his contempt for the old woman.

"Pleasure to see you again, too, Captain Mogor," she replied. "You have a magic user aboard this ship, I sensed their aura while you were practically still in orbit."

"A magic user?" Mogor blinked. "You think someone slipped aboard on Planet Tomoeda to try and kill you?"

"If that's the case, my boy, they're extremely arrogant," she stated. "Though frankly my money's on strictly amateur hour." With that she moved passed him into the ship, following the now all but blasting aura into the fourth cell block, past several surprised guards, and finally came to a cell, inside of which was an angry looking four or five year old girl sitting on the lone bed, and a two or three year old one sitting shivering in fear against the wall, her arms wrapped around her legs. Haggar found this curious, as she could tell the aura came from neither of these, but was definitely from inside the cell, which had little room for anyone else, unless...

"You, open this," she ordered the guard. "Now!" she barked when he hesitated, and he jumped up, jingling his keys.

"Yes, ma'am, right away," he barked as he found the right key and unlocked the cell. As soon as the door was open, Haggar pushed him aside and stepped in, walking up to the bed. With her magic, she lifted the girl sitting on it and dumped her unceremoniously on the floor next to the other girl and then focused on the bed.

"Nice try, fool, but next lifetime try pulling this on someone dumber," she commented, and magically lifted the bed up to finally lay eyes on the magic user beneath...and found herself staring in utter shock. The only thing beneath the bed was another little girl, about the same age as the second one she'd noted earlier, curled tightly into a ball, her eyes held tightly closed, shivering in fear. This was no amateur assassin, it was just a child subconsciously tapping a reserve she no doubt had no idea was even there. And her old mind went to work, pointing out to her that the answers to her earlier concerns had just dropped literally into her lap, free of charge!

She shook off her shock and glanced the child over, appraising her find. She was, as stated, young, only a year or two out of infancy, so ready to be molded by the right hands it was almost ridiculous, almost. Her skin was the pale peach of the general human species, her hair a mousy brown done up in two tiny poofs, one on either side of her head, held in place by a pair of tiny white hair ties. She was dressed in a dirty yellow sundress, her feet bare. Haggar turned to the guard and quickly signaled him to have the other two girls removed, quickly and quietly, then turned back to her find. The old witch smiled, bent over carefully, and reached down one old, clawed hand to the child's shoulder, and gave it a small shake.

"It's okay, sweetie, you're safe now," she said in the Tomoeda tongue. "I've come to help you." The girl slowly opened her eyes, the orbs a sparkling emerald green, and stared up at her. Haggar knew her appearance was less then pleasing, her old, dark blue, wrinkled face covered by the hood of her somewhat ragged brown robes with a simple rope belt at the waist, her wrinkled hands hanging out with their pointed nails at the tips of her fingers like claws. But Haggar had always preferred the simple route to clothing anyway, it kept things easy. Haggar had the same yellow eyes as most Galrans, but for now she did her best to gleam kindness from them.

"Safe?" the little girl asked timidly, still staying in her tight ball.

"Yes, dearie, you're safe," Haggar repeated. "I want to take you to my home, to live with me. All I ask is you take my hand." She reached out her free hand to the girl, waiting for her to take it of her own free will, for only if the child came willingly could Haggar claim her. It was an old rule, ancient really, but she dare not cheat it, for to do so ran the risk of the girl one day escaping her grasp. The girl stared some more, not making any moves, one way or the other.

"Who are you?" she finally whispered.

"I am Haggar, a master of magic," Haggar introduced herself. "And I intend to teach you all that I know, if you will take my hand and let me." She kept her hand outstretched, waiting patiently. In this exercise, patience was all.

"I don't have any magic," the child said. "If I did I'd be home and mommy and daddy and nii-chan would all be okay."

"Magic doesn't work that way, dearie," Haggar said in full honesty. "It cannot bring back those who are gone, but it can do many other things, and I know you have the gift, I felt it, it led me here to you."

"It did?" she asked, her eyes showing honest surprise. "I do?

"Oh, yes," Haggar replied. "It did, and you do. You need but learn how to tap into it of your own will, to control it and wield it to your own purposes. All you have to do is take my hand, and I will teach you everything."

"But I'm only three," she said quietly. "I still have accidents." Now Haggar chuckled in amusement at the child's honesty and naivety.

"Everyone does, no matter how old," she said. "Accidents are part of life, and they help us grow and to learn. And the "accidents" I imagine you actually referred to will become less in time, they always do. Now, will you take my hand and let me take you home, dearie?" She managed to smile warmly, doing her best to reassure the child.

"Will you really protect me?" she asked. "Like my mommy?"

"Yes, of course I will," Haggar answered. The girl stared a moment longer, then she finally uncurled, calming down, her aura finally ceasing to flare, and she timidly reached out, and took hold of Haggar's hand. Haggar stood back up, bringing the girl to her feet as she did so, and they stepped out of the cell together, and headed out of the block towards the exit of the ship. "What's your name, sweetie?" Haggar asked, realizing that the child's name had yet to come up.

"Sakura," she answered. "Sakura Kinomoto. It means 'Cherry Blossoms'."

"It's a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Sakura," Haggar replied. Within moments they'd reached the entry ramp and walked out, Captain Mogor noticing them as they left.

"Find what you were looking for, old witch?" he asked, then blinked at the sight of the girl, who scootched in closer to Haggar, still scared of the Captain who had ordered her parent's deaths. Haggar just smiled, her triumph more and more complete.

"Not exactly, Captain, but what I did find was well worth it," she replied, glancing down at Sakura.

"Where are you taking that slave?" he asked.

"Oh, she's not a slave," Haggar said as she began walking with Sakura toward the exit of the docks. "She's my apprentice." Captain Mogor just looked dumbfounded, not sure what to think. "Oh, and don't tell Zarkon or Lotor, I'll let them know when I'm ready to properly introduce her," she added over her shoulder. And with that, she and Sakura exited the docks, and began the small hike across the grounds to the castle, Sakura staying close to her new "mother" as she eyed the overly desolate terrain of Planet Doom.

To be continued.

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So, how's that for an opening? More is on the way, rest assured. Sakura-chan's new story has only just begun.

Scorpinac.


	2. First Lessons

Chapter 2: First Lessons

Sakura stared at the chamber before her that was to be her new home. It was filled with all sorts of equipment and other things – three tables filled with bottles, beakers, test tubes, jars, and other glass holders filled or partially filled with various liquids, and ingredients filling multiple containers on multiple racks and bookshelves. One corner of the room was filled by three bookshelves loaded to almost overflowing with books, and a desk sat near the center of the chaos with dozens of papers sitting on it, a lone chair at it, a clock ticking away the time on the wall behind it. She also saw sitting stools, one at each table. To the back were two more doors in addition to the one they'd come in, and near them a small recliner with a small lamp table next to it. Atop this table was a lit lamp, a small glass, half-filled with a reddish fluid, and something that made her eyes light up in happiness.

"Kitty!" she squealed, letting go of her new "parent's" hand and dashing over to the table, reaching up and petting the blue furred cat snoozing quietly on the end table. The cat also boasted a clear pink ridge from the top of it's forehead to the base of it's tail following the feline's spine, but Sakura simply accepted this as part of the cat's alien breed. She giggled happily, and the cat opened it's yellow eyes, staring lightly at the child petting it, and to Haggar's surprise it mewed contentedly, briefly stretching itself out before recurling itself and reclosing it's eyes, not once rejecting Sakura's attentions.

"Well, we know one thing at least," Haggar mused. "You have a definite touch with animals, Cova normally doesn't let anyone but me touch him, let alone get that close without my permission. I almost feel betrayed."

"Am I not allowed to pet him?" Sakura asked, still petting the cat.

"Oh, it's quite alright, dearie," Haggar said, putting down her staff and moving over to retake the girl's hand. She lead the child away to the right side inward door. "But for now it can wait, we have other things to do, starting with getting you cleaned up, you clearly need a bath." With that she opened the door, revealing a simple yet opulent bathroom. Haggar lead Sakura straight to the bathtub, put the stopper in, turned the nobs to start it filling, then had her hold up her arms so she could pull off the sundress. Sakura wanted to protest that she didn't need a bath, but a quick glance in a nearby full length mirror told her even her real mother wouldn't be fooled by such a thing – even her pretty dress was all dirty! Haggar then got her to remove her panties, pulled off her hair ties and set them aside, then turned and shut off the water. She then lifted Sakura up and placed her in the water, retrieving the soap and proceeding to bathe her new apprentice.

Being the child she was, Sakura didn't make it easy, taking any and every opportunity to splash Haggar, laughing merrily at her fun. Haggar kept herself calm and kept to her task, knowing from having once accidentally walked in on Zarkon attempting to bathe Lotor at a similar age what she was signing up for when deciding to take little Sakura in as her own, and also knowing that Sakura would mature out of it in time. She finally concluded by soaking Sakura's head, washing her face, and then squeezing an amount of shampoo from the bottle atop the child's head and lathering her hair clean, quickly advising Sakura to close her eyes while she did so. Once she'd rinsed the shampoo out, she flipped a wet strand of hair out of Sakura's face, her own showing only amusement at the girl's antics.

"Now, stay put a moment, and try not to drown, I won't be long," she said, scooping up Sakura's clothes and quickly heading to her main door, noticing Cova had awoken and was sitting at the bathroom's entrance. "Cova, be a good familiar and watch her for me until I get back." The cat looked less than happy at the thought of having to get any nearer to the water, and Sakura giggled, splashing a little more in her merriment. Haggar quickly walked over to her entrance, and summoned a nearby guard, handing him the filthy clothes. They were arguably too "happy" for planet Doom, but there was no point in disposing of them until they were outgrown.

"Take these and have them cleaned and then returned to my quarters," she instructed. "And send me the castle tailor, I'm going to need her to produce a small wardrobe of additional clothing for the girl." The guard nodded and headed off to complete his tasks, Haggar closing her door and returning to the bathroom, Sakura still sitting in the tub, amusing herself by making small waves with the water. Haggar plucked her from the tub, pausing briefly to reach in and pull the stopper so the water could be released to the sewers, then grabbed a towel and began to dry the child off.

"Couldn't you use magic to do that?" Sakura asked, pointing at the tub.

"Yes," Haggar replied. "But it is best to do simple things like that, and this, by hand. You must never rely on magic for everything, or else you will become too dependent on it, and forget how to live without it, something that can be very bad should you be cut off, even if only for a short while, from your powers." Haggar briefly reflected on how this had been her very first lesson under her own master so long ago, and how she had wisely taken it to heart. Somehow, it warmed her to pass this knowledge on to a new generation, and Sakura nodded in understanding, or perhaps just acknowledgment. When she considered that the girl was dry, she wrapped her in the towel, and walked her back into the main lab, picking her up and sitting her on a stool at a table, clearing a space and then retrieving a pad of paper and a pencil.

"Are we gonna draw pictures?" Sakura asked, her little eyes lighting up.

"No, we are going begin your first and most important lesson," Haggar said. "I'm going to teach you how to write and read the alphabet of the common tongue."

"Why do I need to know that?" she queried.

"Because if you are to be a good witch, you must be able to read the spells and potion recipes of those who came before you," Haggar explained. "And you must be able to write down those of your own creation for those who are to follow you."

"Those of my what?" she blinked.

"The spells and potions you make up yourself," Haggar clarified. "All good witches do this, always have, and always will. This is how magic, and all other things, really, progress and improve." Haggar knew she may be pushing things a little, but in the same token she didn't want to waste any time if at all possible. And besides, reading and writing were arguably a simple thing, and she fully intended to take as long as necessary with each step. "Are you ready to get started?"

"Kay," Sakura said, though her tone and face clearly showed her nervousness. Haggar simply grabbed another stool from the next table, sat down, and began taking her through the alphabet one letter at a time, not surprised to find Sakura's scrawl was a little wiggly, and tended to fail to stay on the lines. About twenty minutes or so passed when a knock came at the door, Haggar standing up and going to answer it. Sakura watched as a Galran woman who looked about her mommy's age wearing a simple green and brown dress stepped in. She had brown hair done up in a long pony tail down her back, and pretty blue eyes that looked the same as her blue skin. The front of her dress had pockets containing measuring tools and a pad of paper, a pencil behind her right ear.

"Is this her?" the woman asked Haggar, carefully appraising the towel clad child, and Haggar nodded, leading her in.

"She'll need a complete wardrobe, including shoes," Haggar said, then addressed her student while lifting her to stand up on the stool for the moment. "This woman is Rahsheen. She's a tailor, a clothes maker, and she's here to take your measurements so as to make you some new clothes of your own. Understand?"

"Uh huh," Sakura nodded, and giggled a little when Rahsheen wrapped a measuring tape around her tummy. Rasheen wrote down the measurement then moved the tape to the girl's chest, then measured her arms and her inseam. Once all those were jotted down, she had Haggar return her to her sitting position, and pulled out a foot sizer to measure Sakura's feet, taking care to measure both on the unlikely chance they were different sizes.

"How old is she?" Rahsheen asked, as she jotted down the last bit of information.

"She told me that she's three," Haggar answered.

"Mm hmm, and her birthday?" Rahsheen inquired.

"April fools day," Sakura answered brightly. Rahsheen blinked, lightly confused, but Haggar quickly supplied a follow up answer, able to to quickly make the conversion in her head.

"The third of Trenath in our calendar," she said, and Rahsheen gave a nod of understanding, jotting down the information on her pad.

"She'll be needing replacements roughly every three to seven months for the next four or five years then," she commented.

"Yes, sounds about right," Haggar replied. "They do tend to grow fast at this age. It may in fact be more regular than we think."

"True," Rahsheen agreed, and stowed the foot sizer and her pad in her pockets, the pencil back behind her ear. "I'll be off then. I should have the first few done by the day after tomorrow, so you won't have to worry about her being a nudist long."

"Yes, very good," Haggar acknowledged. "And could you have someone bring down a cot for her to sleep on tonight? I imagine it'll take the carpenters at least a day, maybe two, to finish her proper bed...oh, damn, I forgot to send that order to them!" Sakura tried not to make a face at Haggar's bad word as she escorted Rahsheen to the door. Before she could say something about Haggar's use of profanity, though, Sakura's stomach rumbled loudly, causing the two women to turn and blink at her, Sakura giggling at the reaction.

"My tummy's hungry," she explained, and Haggar and Rahsheen both chuckled lightly.

"I'll see to my work and that cot then," the castle tailor said, and left, Haggar then summoning over a guard, and relaying her previously forgotten order for a new bed for Sakura to be produced by the carpenters.

"And have the chef's send down a meal," she added. "One fit for a very young princess." She paused, then added, "And some paper towels." She then returned to Sakura's side. "Some lunch will be down shortly. In the meantime shall we see to a few more letters?"

"Okay," Sakura said, and did her best to replicate the next couple of letters of the alphabet. A short while later another knock came, and Haggar returned to the door, this time returning with a plate of food and some utensils, moving the paper and pencils aside for now. Haggar quickly helped Sakura remember how to use the utensils, something that, no surprise to the old woman, had not been supplied for the somewhat rare meals proffered on the slave ship. She also helped Sakura regain some of her lost table manners. Either way it was fine by Sakura, who by the end of the meal was fuller than she'd been since she was taken from her home...her old home. It also did not surprise Haggar that she wound up soiling all but one, no, one-_half_ of one of the paper towels she'd requested with the meal keeping Sakura's small face clean. Haggar again quietly reminded herself that she'd _known_ what she was getting into with this!

A little while, and about six or seven more letters, after that the first guard returned with Sakura's cleaned sundress and panties, and Haggar finally was able to redress the child. A few moments after that the cot arrived and Haggar directed the guard with it into the bedroom, setting it up to one side. After that the afternoon went on, Haggar continuing to work with Sakura on her letters for a while longer before finally taking the child into the bedroom for a nap. Sakura quickly glanced around the bedchamber, finding a simple yet expensive bed against the wall, the blankets and sheets shiny and nice looking, a stand up lamp next to it. To the left of it against the adjacent wall was a simple closet, the door to it closed, and just next to that a small chest of drawers. Haggar had set up the cot along the opposite wall, and had already fitted it with a sheet and a blanket and pillow, and laid Sakura down into it. On the one hand she didn't really want to waste time, but on the other she also knew Sakura couldn't learn anything if her brain failed from exhaustion. She was hardly surprised when Sakura passed out practically the moment she hit the pillow.

As Haggar returned to her lab and went over a few potions she'd set brewing and boiling earlier in the day, moving the boiling one off its burner to cool, she contemplated her work thus far. While one could argue she hadn't really made any progress at all, and that she should just start stuffing magical knowledge into the girl without delay, she knew she was taking the right path on this. She had gained the child's trust, and while some might say she was dawdling, she had been fully honest when she'd told Sakura the importance of reading and writing. More to the point, the girl was completely unaware that Haggar had subtly cast a small weave of magic upon her, beginning the far more lengthy, yet all too necessary, process of molding Sakura's morality away from whatever "good" her family had been ingraining in her, and moving her, albeit slowly, toward Haggar's definition of "good", the true pure good of evil!

As she finished her checks, Haggar found herself thinking of Sakura's query about drawing pictures, and realized that as much as she wanted to push Sakura's training along quickly, the girl would require occasional entertainment. And since it could take years until her morality was sufficiently molded to where it needed to be, watching a stirring round of "feed the hapless slaves to the robeast" in the arena would only result in her being horribly psychologically traumatized, and might even cause her to lose Sakura. For the time being, she would need more age appropriate entertainment. She also realized that eventually Sakura would require her own, private sleeping chambers.

"Fortunately," she mused aloud to Cova, who had hopped up onto a table for attention, "We of Planet Doom are not so dispassionate to our children as the galaxy would like to believe." She gave her familiar a scratch behind the ears, and then collected her staff, departing the room. "Do keep an eye on her while I'm gone," she called to her familiar over her shoulder as she left.

Sakura yawned as she stretched herself out, feeling more rested than she'd been since her capture. She'd dreamed about her family, her mommy telling her to run, run as fast as she could, to run for her life, which didn't make any sense. She was safe now, Ms. Haggar had promised, and was gonna teach her to read and write and do magic! That was a good thing, wasn't it? At that thought she blinked awake completely, briefly stretching again, and taking another look around the bedroom, wondering where Haggar was. She got up out of the cot, and walked over to the bedroom door, giving it a push. Fortunately, Haggar had not closed it completely, and it creaked open for her, allowing Sakura to step back into the lab.

It was the same as when she'd gone for her nap, save that Haggar wasn't there, and nor was the old woman's staff. The blue cat, Cova, was sitting on a stool, waiting patiently. She walked over and gave him another pet, the familiar mewing happily in response. She then grabbed a second stool and climbed herself up to look at all the stuff on the table. She saw that the fluids in the beakers, tubes, bottles, jars, etc. were of multiple colors. She reached out and took hold of a circular pyramid beaker with a tall straight neck filled with something green, looking at it and sniffing carefully.

"Hmm, smells like apples," she said, and started to go to take a drink when something sharp pressed into her small hand, causing her to jerk and drop the beaker back to the table. Her eyes glanced down to see Cova, the claws on his left forepaw extended, the cat mewing negatively.

"What you do that for?!" she said angrily, and Cova in answer picked up a pencil that had gotten to the point it was more stub than writing utensil, and dropped it into the beaker. The moment it hit the fluid, the fluid bubbled as though boiling, and the pencil, what little there was of it, melted away into nothingness. Sakura's little eyes widened in surprise and fear, just grasping what trying to drink this would have done to her.

"Good kitty," she petted Cova apologetically. "Sorry I yelled at you." She then glanced at some of the other liquids in the various containers on the table, this time keeping her hands off, wanting to wait until Haggar could tell her which ones were safe and which ones weren't. She marveled at the array of colors, some blue, some red, some pink, some purple, some orange, and some various shades in between. Just then she heard the door open and she turned to see a man with a robot eye in place of his original right one and gray-blue skin walk in. He wore a predominately red uniform and a red cape, with splashes of yellow here and there. He also had on red boots and gray-black pants, and a red glove on his left hand. But what really got her attention was that his whole right arm was metal!

"Hey, old witch, where are you?" he called. "Zarkon says you were supposed to be in the throne room hours ago...who the hell are you?" Sakura couldn't help but shiver, the true yellow eye simply staring at her in curiosity while the red cybernetic one seemed to bore right on through her small body and out the other side.

"I...I...I'm Sakura," she managed to stutter out.

"And what in the hell are you doing in this room?" the man asked, his mouth scowling.

"I...I...I...live here, now," she squeaked, just wanting the man to leave.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow, his voice disbelieving.

"Th...th...that's what Ms. Haggar said," she answered.

"That I did, and it is the truth," Haggar's voice cut in. The man turned and Sakura's eyes lit up in relief and joy at the site of her savior's return as the older woman pushed past the man, a bundle in her left arm. Sakura hopped off the stool and dashed over to her, hugging Haggar in relief. "I see you've met my new apprentice, Captain Yurak," Haggar commented as she set her staff to the side and gave Sakura a return hug.

"Apprentice?" Yurak blinked in surprise. "Since when did you have an apprentice?"

"Since today," Haggar replied. "The girl has much potential, and I intend to mold her in my own image." Yurak just stared for a moment, then shrugged it off.

"It'll be interesting to see the results," he commented. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Haggar answered.

"Well, as I was saying when I came in here looking for you, where the hell have you been?" he asked. "Zarkon's been gnashing at the leash waiting for you to arrive!" Haggar looked at him in curiosity for a moment, then her face lit up in an "o" of surprise.

"I missed the board meeting, didn't I?" she asked. "I've been so busy getting her settled in I just completely forgot all about it!"

"Actually, most of the Governor Generals arrived late, through no fault of their own, so they only just got ready to start twenty minutes ago," Yurak stated. "They're just waiting on you."

"Alright then, tell Zarkon I'll be there shortly," Haggar said. "I just need to take care of one little thing first."

"I'll give Zarkon the message," Yurak nodded, then kneeled down to Sakura's eye level. "I'm sorry I growled at you before," he said apologetically. "Castle security is part of my job, and Haggar hadn't told me about you yet. It won't happen again, I promise. I look forward to seeing how you use Haggar's magics." He briefly lifted her chin with his index finger, then stood up, giving a small wave as he left the room. Haggar took Sakura back over to the table, set down the bundle, and then lifted Sakura back up onto the stool. She then opened the bundle to reveal multiple drawing pads and children's puzzle books with a set of crayons and colored pencils. Sakura's eye's lit up in joy as Haggar set a pad and the drawing items before her.

"I thought you might like something fun to do, but you'll have to stay here by yourself again for awhile while I go to the meeting," Haggar told her.

"Do you have to?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, dearie," Haggar replied. Sakura nodded, then got a curious look on her face.

"Haggar, how come I could understand mister Yurak?" she asked. "And miss Rahsheen before, too. It sounded like they was talking like people do back home."

"That's because I've placed a powerful translation spell on this room so you can keep up," Haggar explained. "In time you'll learn the Doom language, the way our people talk, and the spell will be removed, but for now it will stay up. Now I need to go to the meeting. No worries, I'll be back. In the meantime, don't touch any of the potions, some of them are dangerous."

"I know," Sakura said, pointing to the green fluid filled beaker. "I was gonna take a sip but Cova stopped me and dropped a pencil in it to show me why it was bad." Haggar blinked in surprise, then chuckled lightly and gave the cat, still sitting on the table, a quick scratch.

"Good kitty," she told him, the cat mewing at the praise. Haggar then retrieved her staff again and headed off to the meeting, silently praying Zarkon wouldn't take her arm off for being late!

Coming up to the doors of the throne room, Haggar saw Yurak just outside, waiting. They nodded to each other as she reached the doors.

"Tell me, Yurak, why did you apologize to the girl?" she asked. "It's not like I told you what I had in mind."

"Wasn't hard to figure out," Yurak replied. "It was pretty obvious you're going to start by making her trust you before working on turning her to our side."

"Yes, indeed," Haggar agreed. "Out of curiosity, what did you tell Zarkon?"

"I told him you got absorbed in a new project and completely lost track of time, which is arguably the truth," he said. "I figured that you would want to tell him about the girl in your own time, in your own way."

"Yes, I do," she agreed. "Well, I better get in there, and hope Zarkon doesn't give me an unneeded, and rather unnecessary, punishment." With that, she opened the doors, and stepped into the meeting with the Governor Generals and Zarkon.

Sakura focused on the last few details of her picture, wanting it to be just right. Cova sat on the table next to her, purring quietly while he watched her, because he knew keeping her safe meant his mistress would be happy. And a happy mistress was a safe mistress! Haggar then entered, carrying a covered tray in her hand, looking worn out. She set down her staff and walked over to the table, setting down the tray and placing her hand lightly on Sakura's shoulder to get her attention. Sakura looked up, her eye's lighting up in joy as Haggar took a seat. Her joy paused when she saw how tired Haggar looked.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"Just a little tired," Haggar admitted. "It's not the first time one of these meetings wore me out a bit, and it'll be far from the last." She then removed the cover from the plate to reveal two plates of food, Sakura smiling in approval. "I brought some dinner. Hungry?"

"Yeah!" Sakura agreed, and Haggar moved her drawing aside and put a plate of food and a fork before her, Sakura digging right in. Haggar then took the other plate, picked up her own fork, and began to feed herself as well. They ate quietly for the next few moments, then Haggar paused, setting down the plate for the moment, and picking up Sakura's picture to have a look. It showed a green grassy field, upon which walked a person drawn in brown with a dark blue face and hands holding a walking stick in one and the hand of a little girl with peach skin in a yellow dress in the other, a blue four legged something at their feet. In the sky above them was a yellow sun, and to the other end of the picture floating in the sky were three more people, a man in glasses with brown hair, a woman with kind eyes and brown hair, and a little boy with black hair and a small scowl on his face. All three were dressed in white, and had pure white wings coming from their backs. Haggar looked at it for another moment, then picked up a moist towelette and gave Sakura's face a quick wipe down. She then glanced at the picture again.

"Tell me dear, who are these people?" she asked, holding up the picture so they could both see it. Sakura smiled, and leaned a little closer to it.

"Can't you see?" she asked, then pointed to the two on the ground. "That's you, and that's me," she said, then pointed at the blue thing at their feet. "And that's Cova." Cova perked up at the mention of his name and glanced at the picture, then gave a small mew of indignation.

"Oh, don't be like that, kitty," Haggar said, "It's pretty clear she isn't quite finished with you yet, she still needs to add your eyes and your spinal ridge." She glanced back at the other three in the picture while Cova curled back up, a realization coming to her. "Sakura, who are the others?"

"That's daddy and mommy and my nii-chan, Touya," she said, indicating each one. "They're watching us from heaven, 'cause they're dead now, that man in green from the space ship shot them and they died." She started to tear up a bit, and Haggar reached one arm around her, giving her a reassuring hug, doing her best to soothe her. Haggar noted quietly that she would have to do a little work with Sakura to help her through the emotional trauma, but that could wait for later. Haggar thought for a moment as to who the "man in green" Sakura referred to was, then realized there was really only one candidate. Sakura took a breath, then continued, "But they're happy now cause you came and saved me and you're gonna take care of me now." Haggar nodded in agreement, then glanced again at the picture, and how Sakura had drawn her brother with a scowl.

"Sakura, why is your brother scowling?" she asked. Sakura looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes with her little hands.

"Cause he always looks like that," she said. "He's always being mean and telling me a robeast will come and eat me if I'm bad and calling me a monster and stuff." Haggar couldn't help her chuckle of amusement, causing Sakura to pout a little.

"I'm sorry, dear, that's just the first time I've heard of that idea," she explained. "Robeasts coming to eat bad little children, that's a new one on me. As to his other behavior, have you considered that maybe he was a little jealous of you?"

"Jealous?!" Sakura blinked. "You think?"

"It's not uncommon for older brothers and sisters to be jealous of their little sisters and brothers," Haggar responded. "So, yes, I think he might have been." Sakura thought about that a bit, and Haggar set the picture down and finished her meal, Sakura finishing her own, Haggar wiping her face clean a few more times. Afterward Haggar cleared the plates, setting them back on the tray, and taking it over to set it next to the door so as to be retrieved in the morning. She then took Sakura to the bathroom to wash her up properly, then took her back to the table to finish her picture while she checked her potions. Everything seemed okay, and she moved some from their beakers to proper jars and bottles, placing a small cover over those that had to sit overnight where they were.

"There," Sakura said, showing her picture to Cova again. "All done. See, it looks just like you!" Cova glanced at it, and gave another mew of indignation, clearly not convinced. Haggar came over and had a look, and agreed with Sakura; now the cat in the picture did look like Cova, at least as much as a three year old was capable of drawing, at any rate. Haggar fetched the pad and pencil from earlier, moving the drawing supplies to the side.

"Shall we practice some more letters, dear?" she asked.

"Kay," Sakura replied, and took the pencil in her hand. Haggar took her through a few more letters, before long reaching the end of the common language's alphabet. As Sakura practiced the letters a few more times, Haggar went over to the desk and sifted through a few of the papers, realizing she was behind on some of her latest reports. She occupied herself on that for a few hours while Sakura stuck to her practice, eager to master her first lesson. After a while, though, as can be expected, Sakura grew bored, and climbed slightly up onto the table to reach one of the puzzle books, flipping it open and glancing through a few of the pages till she found a dot-to-dot, and started connecting. Just as Sakura was finishing the puzzle, Haggar completed the last piece of paperwork she was willing to stare at for the day, setting down her pen and getting up from the desk after dropping the paper on the 'done' pile. She glanced at the time, and went over to Sakura, who glanced up at her and showed her the finished puzzle.

"Look, it's a doggy," Sakura smiled, showing off her squiggly 'masterpiece'.

"So it is," Haggar replied. "It's very nice, dearie. Now come, it's getting late and I think it's time we both went to bed."

"But I'm not sleepy," Sakura said, then yawned.

"Of course you're not," Haggar smiled, lifting Sakura down and taking her to the bedchamber. "But I am, so we're going to call it a night." In the bedchamber Haggar again plucked the sundress from Sakura, setting it on the chest of drawers from which she picked out a simple, plain short sleeved shirt she wore on occasion. She then placed this shirt on Sakura, which on the child looked almost like a dress in and of itself.

"Yes, that'll do as a night shirt for now," she said, hoping Rahsheen would remember to include a set of proper pajamas for the girl as she put Sakura to bed in her cot. She then undressed herself and changed into her own gray pajamas.

"Tell me a story," Sakura said as Haggar reached for the light, causing the old witch to pause. She thought for a moment, then lit upon a good one for the child, and a means to further mold her young mind.

"Alright, have you ever heard of Voltron?" she asked, and Sakura shook her head no. "Well, a long time ago, almost twelve thousand years according to some accounts, a group of mighty but evil warlocks and sorceresses and scientists crafted a wonder of magic and technology, and named it Voltron, a mighty robot whose hands and feet resembled the heads of four mythical lions. They sent it out to destroy good magic users and their worlds. The ones Voltron was sent against conjured giant beasts and machines to try and defeat him, not entirely unlike our robeasts, but of a far different ilk. But despite the conjurers' best works, Voltron reduced all those who came before him into so much chopped pieces with his vicious "Blazing Sword" and his dark elemental powers of fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning."

"What happened?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide. "Did the ones who made him take over everything?!"

"Oh, no, dearie," Haggar replied. "Something unexpected happened. Voltron awoke, came alive as you or me, and turned on his masters, wiping them out. But even with them gone he could not be stopped, and now he refused to be controlled. He actively sought out more great beasts, to prove his strength. And so powerful was he, that before long none could challenge him, which made him grow restless. Then a miracle happened. A goddess appeared before him in space, and in his arrogance Voltron challenged her to battle. 'My,' she said to him, 'Aren't we full of ourselves. I think someone needs a helping of humble pie.'" Sakura giggled at Haggar's supplied 'dialogue', and Haggar smiled at her success at making the girl smile, then continued. "She then seized Voltron with her powers, and shattered him. Now, this is where various different versions get a little confused. Some say he was utterly destroyed, never to rise again, but others say he was just broken into several pieces."

"Which one's the right one?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I looked into it once, and it is my considered opinion that the latter is the correct one," Haggar answered. "I believe she broke Voltron into five pieces, and cast him down onto the nearest planet, where the pieces were buried deep into the earth, and cast into a deep sleep. It is even possible that someday one or more of the pieces will be dug up again, and it may even be that Voltron can be reassembled, though when or how I cannot say. For now, though, he is broken, and sleeps until the day of his return."

"Wow," Sakura awed. "Do you really think Voltron could be put back together again?"

"It is certainly possible," Haggar said. "But first you'd have to find him, and to do that you'd need to figure out which planet he's buried on. He has been searched for on many planets by archaeologists, but as yet none have located him." She paused as it occurred to her that Sakura might not know what an archaeologist is. "Um, an archaeologist..."

"Archaeologists study and dig up the past," Sakura said, surprising her. "My daddy's one."

"Ah, I see," Haggar nodded, and tucked Sakura in. "Time to sleep now." Sakura nodded, and laid her head down on her pillow. Haggar then went to her own bed and climbed in, reaching her hand up to the lamp.

"Haggar?" Sakura's small voice carried across the room.

"Yes?" Haggar asked, hoping she didn't want another story.

"Can I...can I call you...mama?" she asked shyly, surprising Haggar, who froze for a moment in shock. She had never really expected to be asked such a question, and wasn't really sure how to answer it. On the one hand it could help to further endear the child to her, solidifying the girl's trust in her. 'But on the other hand,' a distant voice deep within her cried out, 'it could also cause you to care more for the girl than you're supposed to! It could lead to your doom!' Haggar contemplated these arguments in her head for a few moments, then gave Sakura a truly warm smile.

"Of course you can," she said. "I'd like that." Sakura smiled, then rolled over in her cot. Haggar switched off the light, laid down, and went to sleep herself.

To be continued.

* * *

Okay, from here we're going to do a few time jumps to speed things along because, frankly, watching Haggar work with a three-year-old Sakura is gonna get real boring! And the real meat and drink of this is when she's older, anyway.

Scorpinac.


	3. Meeting The Rulers Of Darkness

I apologize for how long this took, I got distracted by a million other things that took forever and a day to finish, but I'm back, and ready to roll!

* * *

Chapter 3: Meeting The Rulers Of Darkness

Nearly seventeen months had passed, and while their activities had gotten into a fair routine of wake up, breakfast, shower for Haggar, lessons for Sakura, lunch, playtime for Sakura while Haggar worked or attended a meeting or some such, more lessons, dinner, more lessons/playtime while Haggar perused paper work, then bedtime, with baths for Sakura at least once a week, Haggar was continually impressed at Sakura's progress, such as it was.

Sakura had memorized the alphabet, and had managed to learn to read basic words, now able to go cover to cover on her "My First Reader", "My Second Reader", and "My Third Reader" that Haggar had acquired for her, and was already working on her "My Fourth Reader" with a will, seemingly determined to master reading as quickly as possible. Haggar had also, at Sakura's request, taken her over all the active potions in the lab, instructing her on which were safe, relatively, and which were decidedly dangerous to mess with without knowing what she was doing, as well as giving her an introduction to the basic ingredients and components thereof.

Spelling had come surprisingly easily for Sakura, who could now spell over three hundred words from heart, and about two hundred more that were slightly more complicated with help from her speller and notebooks, forty of which the girl had crammed full with her studies and practices. Haggar had even begun teaching her mathematics, a vital skill for any occupation, and even more so for spellcasting and potion making. Sakura had already mastered basic addition and subtraction, and was quickly learning the slightly more complex levels of the two. Haggar had a feeling it wouldn't be long before she would be introducing the girl to basic multiplication and division.

All the while, Haggar had helped the girl to come to terms with the loss of her family, and further gained the child's trust and affections, her magic continuing to slowly weave around and "adjust" Sakura's morality. Haggar was especially pleased that Sakura had yet to notice that her notions of "good" and "bad" were being subtly subverted and reversed.

Rasheen had come through, and Sakura now had a proper wardrobe of her own, currently preferring blue slipper shoes and red, dark red, and brown-red dresses, though she would also occasionally go for a simple shirt and pants, colors varying from day to day. Over the course of time, her clothes had been replaced twice due to Sakura's physical growth, but then that had been expected from the start. The carpenter had also completed his task in three days time, providing Sakura with a beautiful bed that she would be able to use for years to come, growing into it comfortably over time, the bed a full sized single, simple, yet able to be customized at Sakura's whim.

Haggar had also taken the initiative and acquired the empty room to the right of her quarters/lab, having a new door inserted to connect it to the lab as her bedroom and the bathroom were, then quickly converted the spare room into a proper bedroom for Sakura, acquiring her a small chest of drawers for her clothes and placing the new bed within, as well as adding a small desk for the girl and a toy box for the few toys she opted to bequeath her with. It had quickly become quite cozy as Sakura settled herself into her new room.

Yes, all had gone quite well, except...she still needed to tell Zarkon about Sakura, and, though she was very hesitant to do so, introduce them to each other. Fate, however, had something else in mind that afternoon, as Haggar was suddenly disrupted from her current paperwork by the door to the lab being opened with a bit of a thrust to it. Sakura jumped in slight fright at the noise from where she was sitting, the now recently turned five-year-old girl working on a maze puzzle in one of the latest children's activity books Haggar had gotten her. Three Royal Guards stepped in and promptly planted their feet at attention, another moving forward to advance ahead of the true guest, and Haggar inwardly shuddered as King Zarkon himself stepped into the room, and to her surprise Prince Lotor stepped in just a few steps behind his evil father, a final Royal Guard quietly and efficiently following behind him. So much for further stalling the issue, she thought quietly to herself.

Sakura stared at the new people who'd come in. The Royal Guards wore face masks that hid all but their eyes, which from where she sat may as well have been invisible, too, and long red cloaks with purple and black in the lining. Their feet were also covered by red boots, and single swords rested in hilts at their hips on one side, pistol side arms in holsters on the other. What really caught her attention, though, was the man who came in with them. His face looked like a demon's, his yellow eyes slitted like a cat's and his ears pointed like pretty much every other Galran she'd seen. His lips were pulled back in an angry snarl, revealing long, pointed fangs. Atop his apparently bald head sat an ornate gold crown, and he was dressed in expensive purple robes, a red cloak draped over it with intricate gold, black, and blue designs woven into the edges. His feet were covered by expensive looking red and gold shoes, and in his hand he held a gold scepter whose top looked like a fist with the index finger pointing straight ahead, the thumb outstretched slightly to the side.

The last person she glanced at was the boy, who looked to be in his teens, wearing black pants, boots, and a short sleeved shirt with a simple belt around his hip, the buckle resembling a skull and crossbones, another sword at his hip, but this time no gun. His eyes were like the rest, and his ears, like every other Galran, were pointed, but his face was almost human, except that it was a light blue. But what also got her attention was his hair – it was a beautiful white-blonde, tied off in a pony tail, and went down to his shoulder. For an alien Galran, he was actually very pretty to look at, much prettier than most she'd seen, though miss Rasheen was pretty, too, and she'd long since gotten used to Mama Haggar's face, writing off the less attractive appearance as being because she was so old. Sakura's pondering was interrupted then by the voice of Zarkon.

"Haggar, you were supposed to get me that report on your latest robeast enhancement formula an hour ago! Where is it?" he bellowed, walking straight over to the old witch. Sakura found herself terrified of this person, even more than of the man who killed her family, and slipped off her stool to hide behind the table, as far out of sight as possible. The young Prince noticed the movement, and glanced in her direction just as she slipped behind the table legs, his curiosity being piqued. Truth be told, he was only here because he and Zarkon were on their way to the space dock to catch a ship for a tour of some of the more important planets in the Empire. Zarkon just wanted that report first. So, ignoring his father and the old witch, whom he only half cared for, anyway, he turned his attention to the small being who had just attempted escape.

"Was it?" Haggar responded to Zarkon's question. "Huh, I thought I turned it in, or at least had sent it out. Dear me, I'm really starting to get forgetful, aren't I?" She began sifting through all the papers on her desk, one eye watching Lotor moving around the table Sakura was hiding behind, who was attempting to be invisible, no doubt from Zarkon; and she couldn't blame the child. Hell, right now she'd dearly love to be able to do the same!

"Hmph, it's probably that project you've been working on for almost a year and a half now," Zarkon growled. "This is only the latest in dozens of slips you've made since beginning it. How soon will it be finished, anyway? I want your focus back where it belongs already!" Haggar again turned one eye towards the children, Lotor inches from reaching her apprentice.

"It...may be some time, yet, your majesty," she admitted.

"What?" Zarkon snapped. "What in all Hell could possibly take so long to get done!" And then fate smote her last chance of evading the true answer to that question when Lotor snapped out a hand and grabbed Sakura by the arm.

"Gotcha!" he cried happily, and Sakura let out an "EEK!" as he yanked her out of her hiding spot. She stared up at her captor, then surprisingly let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, it's the pretty one," she said, mostly to herself, but Lotor heard all the same, and the activity had sadly finally gained Zarkon's attention, the King turning with a, "Hmm?"

"Pretty one?" Lotor asked as he released her arm, a slightly cocky smile on his lips. Zarkon moved towards his son, now curious as to what was going on.

"What are you doing, Lotor?" he asked. Sakura's eyes widened in fear, and she pressed closer to the Prince.

"Don't let him find me," she pleaded, surprising Lotor momentarily, then he chuckled lightly.

"Oh, you were hiding from Father," he said. "Don't blame you." Then, putting a hand aside of his mouth, he whispered, "There's been many a time I've wanted to be invisible to him, too."

"I asked you a question, Lotor!" Zarkon said angrily, then got up close enough to finally see the small child attempting to now use his son as a shield. "What the hell is this?"

"The aforementioned project," Haggar said calmly, standing up and walking over to them. "Or more accurately, my apprentice. Your report." The last was said as she handed Zarkon a file, which he quickly glanced over before returning his attention back to Sakura.

"Apprentice?" he asked, one eye arched. "What do you possibly need an apprentice for?"

"To inherit my magical knowledge and possessions after I'm gone, of course," Haggar replied. "What else? I'm not gonna live forever, you know, so I need an heir just as much as you do. Now, Sakura dear, do be polite and introduce yourself properly to the King of Galra and his son." Sakura took a breath, stepped back to be seen properly, and took a small bow, her eyes never leaving Zarkon's angry face.

"Hello, your majesties, how do you do? My name is Sakura, and I'm mama Haggar's apprentice. It's nice to meet you," she introduced herself.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Prince Lotor, and this is my father, King Zarkon," Lotor responded, indicating first himself, and then his dad.

"Mama?" Zarkon's eye twitched as he turned on Haggar. "Mama?"

"It's just what she calls me, it helps her feel more connected to me," Haggar quickly explained. She then turned to Sakura, and added, "From now on when we're among others, especially King Zarkon, you should call me 'Master Haggar', okay dear?"

"Okay," Sakura replied, still watching Zarkon carefully, her fear of the demonic tyrant ever present. "Master Haggar," she added, as much as a test for herself as for the King.

"Hmm, yeah, that's better," he said grumpily, then looked at the report again. "Alright, this should be all for now. Come on, Lotor, let's go, we have a tour to conduct. 'Mama'... ha!" With that, Zarkon turned and left the room, the first four guards departing with him in the same order they came, the last waiting on Lotor, who decided to make one last quip at Sakura.

"Do you really think you can teach her anything, Haggar? She's just a baby," he grinned, and Sakura's face squinted in anger, the girl snapping forward before anyone could stop her and right up to Lotor.

"I'm not a baby, I'm five!" she roared at him, holding up her small hand, the fingers outstretched to show him her age. Lotor blinked, then grinned and leaned down to bring his face closer to hers.

"You look like a baby to me," he said, Sakura's face fuming with rage, and then she did it. She stomped her foot down on Lotor's, hard! Well, as hard as a five-year-old girl can, anyway. But it was hard enough to make Lotor let out a small yelp, more from the unexpectedness of it than any actual pain.

"OW! You little...!" he glared, starting to pull back a fist, Sakura's eyes widening in surprise at what she had done, the imminent threat not yet registering. Then a cruel, cold laughter sounded, and they both glanced back to the hallway still visible through the open doorway, where Zarkon stood watching, clearly enjoying the events in his own twisted way. Sakura felt herself panic, and dove for Haggar, who was even then moving forward to collect her apprentice before the child did anything else stupid.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she cried as she dove into the elderly woman's arms.

"Well, at least you selected a fiery tempered student, Haggar. Be sure to cultivate that aspect of her," Zarkon smiled, his smile sinister and frightening all at once. "She'll need it to be truly part of the royal court of Doom. Come on, Lotor, move it!" He continued to laugh as he walked away, Lotor finally following, giving only one last glance over his shoulder at the girl who had actually dared to strike him in such a way.

"Well, she's got guts, anyway, I'll give her that much," he commented, then finally vanished after his father down the hall, the last guard trotting smartly behind him. Haggar eased Sakura aside, and walked over to close the door, breathing a sigh of relief once it was shut.

"Well, all things considered, that could have gone far worse," she said, mostly to herself. Cova just meowed, he'd viewed everything from his perch on the table next to the recliner, having never once moved. Cova was never one to get too close to Zarkon or Lotor unless he couldn't avoid it.

"Am I in trouble?" Sakura asked, her face contrite and apologetic, worry in her eyes.

"Oh, it's okay, dear. I think Lotor was mostly just surprised that you did that. I know I am," Haggar waved it off, speaking in a reassuring tone. "Besides, you heard Zarkon, clearly he likes that you're willing to stand up for yourself to Lotor, though I'd seriously advise against trying it with Zarkon himself, I think that would be dangerous. Very dangerous."

"Like, 'off with my head', dangerous? Or 'feed me to a robeast' dangerous?" Sakura asked timidly, not really sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Oh, I'd say either or, possibly both, maybe even something worse," Haggar answered truthfully. "Zarkon isn't exactly known for his mercy or compassion."

"He's scary, mama Haggar," Sakura said as Haggar took her into a comforting hug. "Really scary!"

"Yes, I know," Haggar replied. "Why don't you go back to your game and I'll finish my paperwork, and then we'll do a reading lesson, okay?"

"Okay," Sakura said, and went back to her stool, her smile managing to return now that the adrenaline and tension had finally worn off. Haggar smiled as she went back to her desk. Yes, all things considered, everything was coming along quite well. Quite well, indeed. In fact, though she had intended to wait a little longer, it might very well be time to introduce Sakura to some of the more vicious aspects of life on Doom. But where to start?, she wondered. After a few moments she decided to begin with showing her what happened to the more uncooperative slaves, and a further thought occurred to her, an idea of how to further move Sakura towards the Galran way of thinking. Yes, she thought, that could definitely work!

It was about two hours later, after the promised reading lesson and a quick snack break, that Haggar had asked Sakura if she'd like to go for a walk around the castle and grounds, and the girl had been all too delighted, the girl always enjoying her outings away from their private rooms. To date, though, Haggar had made it a point only to show Sakura the mostly "safe" areas of the castle and parts of the grounds, away from training and practice areas so as not to risk damaging Sakura's progress by prematurely introducing the young girl to certain aspects of Doom's "hospitality" she didn't think Sakura was ready for. But today was different, Sakura had managed well in the presence of Zarkon, and even succeeded, in spite of herself, to impress the evil King, and even got an endorsement, of sorts, from Prince Lotor. So now Haggar was ready to go out on a limb.

Not long after leaving their rooms, she deliberately steered them towards an area of the castle currently being cleaned by some of the slaves. As they passed by the pathetic humans and other non-Galran aliens toiling in their labor, Sakura glanced at them, a brief flash of concern, and maybe even pity, in her eyes, but then turned away, her eyes focused ahead of her.

'Good,' Haggar thought, 'Her mind is not dwelling on them. A little of her morality may remain, it seems, but not enough to make her question, or protest. She is coming along well, indeed.' Haggar had wisely informed Sakura of the slaves existence early on, and what it meant to be one, and thankfully Sakura had only protested slightly at the time, and now showed no sign of wanting to help the worthless wretches around them.

Soon they departed the castle proper, and strode through the grounds, Haggar now pointing them toward the overlook of the nearby construction site where a new weapons housing building was being erected. Here the slaves toiled even more than in the castle proper, and Haggar glanced toward her young pupil to observe her reaction. Again the momentary look of concern and the ever so brief flash of pity, and then the girl seemed to shake it off, turning to her erstwhile "parent".

"What are they making, mama Haggar?" she asked.

"A new building, to house some newly developed and acquired weapons for the main Royal Arsenal," Haggar explained. "Scientific and technological progress, like magical, can never stand still, but move ever forwards, expanding on the old and ushering in the new and improved!" Sakura nodded, absorbing the information, Haggar smiling at having successfully teaching her student yet another valuable lesson, then turned her attention back towards the slaves toiling about and the various Galrans overseeing the construction. Haggar knew it wouldn't be hard to find slaves who were in the throes of punishment for failure to move quickly or defiance of their masters or even attempted escape. In fact, she didn't even need to look for very long, as in a few moments a grown man, human from the look of him, about six foot two, hands in chains to limit his arm movements to what was needed for his tasks, fairly broad shouldered and well muscled, suddenly threw all his weight into his elbow to slam it into the nearby guard, and then bolted away.

Ironically, he ran right towards Haggar, and upon seeing the elderly Galran altered course, only to find himself about to plow right into little Sakura, who let out another small "EEK!", but this time followed it by raising her hands and firing a simple defensive spell, one of the handful of spells Haggar had thus far taught her. The spell went off perfectly, causing the man to fall back in surprise, just in time for the guard and three of his buddies and a ranking Overseer to come and properly detain the man, chaining his legs so he could no longer run and binding his hands and arms tightly to prevent any movement entirely this time so he couldn't fight.

"Well, done, dearie," Haggar praised her student. "You've certainly mastered that base level defense spell. Now I'll have to see what you can do with a more complicated one!"

"Thanks, mam...Master Haggar!" Sakura beamed at her teacher and "mother", happy that she'd earned Haggar's approval. She then turned back to the man who had tried to escape, and nearly run into her. What neither had noticed, nor would Haggar have cared, was that man had in fact hesitated upon laying eyes on Sakura, the presence of the small human girl in decent, if not expensive, clothing, clearly well fed, and very clearly not in chains of any kind had confused and startled him, enough to make him pause just long enough for the spell to hit him and push him back, condemning him to capture. He looked again at the girl, feeling a sick revulsion as she smiled happily at the old woman's praise. The Overseer then pulled out his five and a half foot long Australian style stockwhip, ready to deliver punishment.

"Thirty lashes ought to convince you not to try that again, slave," he sneered evilly at the man, raising his arm for the first strike. Sakura watched the proceedings, mixed feelings swirling in her belly, but before the Overseer could lay the first blow, the most unexpected voice called out.

"Wait, soldier! Hold your arm," Haggar stated, gaining all their attention, then waved with her staff toward Sakura. "Let her do it. She was, after all, nearly run over and squished by this unruly brute, it's only right she get a chance to punish him for it." The man looked aghast, and the Overseer was outright shocked at the old witch's request.

"Witch Haggar?" he asked, thoroughly confused. Haggar merely turned to her pupil, yellow eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Go on, dearie, take the whip," she urged. "You could have been lost forever because of his attempt to defy his masters, and thus you. Make him scream in pain for it until he begs forgiveness and mercy!" Sakura stared up at her, then back to Haggar, her eyes calm yet confused and uncertain.

"Am I allowed to?" she asked. "Can I really do that?"

"Oh, yes, dearie, you are and can," Haggar affirmed. "As hard as you like. As hard as you can!"

"Witch Haggar, who is this...human?" the Overseer inquired, a slight note of disgust in his voice as he said the last word.

"This is Sakura, my apprentice and future Witch adviser to the throne," Haggar declared, surprising everyone, especially Sakura, who had thought she was only to learn magic, reading, writing, and maths, not be given a job! "Now do as I say, and hand her the whip!"

"Surely King Zarkon...," the Overseer started.

"Has met her and approved my choice, earlier today in fact," Haggar cut him off. "And she even managed to impress Prince Lotor with her wit and courage, so you needn't ask. Now give it to her." The Overseer finally sighed, and relented, walking over and handing the whip to Sakura. Sakura stared at it a moment, then hesitatingly reached out and took hold of it, hefting it in her small hand. Haggar gently, yet insistently, urged her forward until she stood before the man who stared at her, not with fear, but pity.

"Don't do this," he whispered. "Don't listen to her, to them, she's a monster, they're all monsters. Run. Just run while you still can." Sakura blinked, the words sounding familiar somehow, then glared, not liking how he referred to Haggar, not one little bit.

"Mama Haggar's not a monster, she's good, and she's teaching me magic," Sakura stated, Haggar chuckling merrily at her success with the girl to get her that far in regards to morality. And now would be the next step, as she signaled for the man to be turned around, his back made to face them. She then indicated for Sakura to raise and snap the whip against him. Sakura hesitated, lifting the whip slowly, the weight a little much for her, and then gave a tentative snap, the lash cracking very lightly against the man's back.

The guards and Overseer chuckled at her shortcoming, and the man gave a slight sigh of relief as he'd barely twinged at the blow, but Haggar just moved her staff to her other hand, then reached down and helped Sakura lift the whip and give it a more sure snap, this time getting a more pained reaction out of the man. The mixed feelings returned to Sakura's belly, swirling even greater, but Haggar simply helped her to lift the whip again, and again snap it against the slave's back, then again, this time more sure, the man giving further yelps of pain.

"Do you feel it, dearie?" Haggar asked. "The power? The absolute control you have over him? He can do nothing to stop you, only you can decide to end his pain, or continue it. How does it feel, to have such total power over another being?" Sakura's mind swirled at that line of questioning, not having considered it in those terms. She had complete control over this man? She rose her arm again, this time giving a slightly more confident snap against her victim, listening to his brief cry. He glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyes now pleading.

"Do you really want to be a monster like her?" he whispered again. "Please, just run." Sakura glowered this time, anger setting in.

"Mama Haggar's not a monster!" she snapped, swinging the whip with all her might all on her own, and this time getting a more definitive cry of pain, and now she began snapping the whip without any more help or urging, wanting to make him take back what he'd said about Haggar. Haggar stepped back quietly and watched, a gleaming smile on her lips. The Overseer was now looking on relatively impressed while he counted the strokes, surprised as she soon passed the twenty stroke mark.

But more to the point, Sakura was feeling it now, just as Haggar had said to her. The power, the control, the total authority over the man's fate in her hands alone as she rose and brought down the whip again and again. She listened as the man cried out in pain and halted when she heard the Overseer declare aloud "Thirty!", remembering that that was what the Overseer had chosen as the number of strikes to be given to the slave. She breathed a little heavily from the exertion, adrenaline coursing through her. Adrenaline, and excitement. She had discovered a surprising new thrill, and turned to Haggar, a smile on her lips, and a broader one on the old witch's.

"Very good, dearie," Haggar crooned. "How did it feel?"

"It felt...good...," Sakura replied. Haggar just glowed with approval and satisfaction. A noise then got her attention, three slaves rising in a fruitless rebellion, Sakura almost eagerly trotting over with the whip still in her hand, asking to help punish them as they were subdued by more guards. And Haggar smiled even broader.

"She has walked through the door of her own will," Haggar said to herself, the Overseer blinking in her direction even as he ordered the first rebellious slave taken back to a cell to lie in his own filth and the blood from his split back for awhile. "And now she can never again go back."

The years continued to pass, one by one. Sakura's education continued apace, increasing in tenor as she got older and required fewer rest breaks during the day. She eventually plucked a girl from the mine slaves on a whim while she and Haggar were present for an inspection, and made the slave girl her personal servant, often tormenting the girl by threatening to throw her to a robeast as food. In time, Sakura came to forget her birth family, Haggar being the only family she needed or wanted. On her ninth birthday, Sakura created her own familiar, and dubbed him Spinner Sun, Spinner for short, impressing Haggar no end, but leaving Sakura drained for several days as a result as she had used a unique incantation in the process to allow Spinner the ability to speak.

And then came the day Yurak, now sporting the rank of Fleet Commander, returned from space with a new load of slaves, including five humans, space explorers by trade, who would change everything, forever...

_From days of long ago,_

_From uncharted regions of the Universe,_

_Comes..._

_A legend._

_The legend of..._

_Voltron, Defender of the Universe,_

_A mighty robot,_

_Loved by good, feared by evil._

_As Voltron's legend grew,_

_Peace settled across the galaxy._

_On planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed._

_Together with the good planets of the star systems,_

_They maintained peace, throughout the cosmos,_

_Until a new, horrible menace threatened the galaxy._

_Voltron was needed once more._

_This is the story,_

_Of the super force,_

_Of Space explorers,_

_Specially trained and sent by the Alliance..._

_To bring back..._

_Voltron, Defender of the Universe!_

_(Voltron, Defenders of the Universe!)_

* * *

And now our tale truly begins! Okay, I know, the whipping scene may have been stretching things a little, but I wanted to show Sakura was indeed starting to corrupt, as it felt like it wouldn't make sense that she survived on Doom as long she's supposed to have otherwise. As to the whip type, just look up "whip" on Wikipedia, and you'll find an image of that particular type, which should show you why I picked it for the scene – it looks like a five year old could actually heft it without too much trouble.

And in regards to the last line of the(slightly revamped) opening monologue, if you listen carefully, the sung part actually is plural, as they'd always intended multiple Voltrons right from the start. And I'll tell you now, I'm going to be mixing and matching facts with both Voltron and original Golion as stated in the summary blurb. Consider yourselves warned.

Scorpinac

LotorNomiko – For the record, in CCS, Sakura started at age 10, and had at least one birthday before the end, possibly two(someday I _really _need to get those last three DVDs!), thus making her 11 or 12 at the end. Mind you, this does not take into account the second movie, which takes place an indeterminate time after the end of the series.


	4. Capture & Escape Of The Space Explorers

Chapter 4: Capture, And Escape, Of The Space Explorers

She happily skipped her way down to the spaceport, a grin on her face. She had few friends on planet Galra, mostly because too many feared her powers and those of her "mother", Haggar; not that she blamed them. They _should_ be afraid, she reasoned. After all, she and Haggar alone held the ears of the King and his son without fear of immediate death, unlike the Governor Generals and those below them. But there were a few she could call friend, such as the one finally returning to Galra after far too many months of absence. She also thought over the statement from the stellar communications that came through when they called in to announce their arrival.

"Prison ship to Planet Galra headquarters. We have a full load of captives from Centauri System for your slave force, and an extra added bonus; five human space explorers captured at planet Balto, which has apparently fallen to nuclear civil war with no other survivors," the stellar communications officer had relayed from the ship to the planet as it approached. "We are approaching planet Galra spaceport. Prepare to receive the captives, and prepare a special place in the castle dungeons for the five space explorers. Over and out." She found herself wondering about what these so called "explorers" were like. It would be the first time new human slaves were brought in in many years; at least as far as she could recall, anyway.

She entered the spaceport just as the prison ship finished docking, and her smile widened as Fleet Commander Yurak stepped off the ship, the man almost immediately spotting her as he moved forward.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Witch Sakura," he commented. "Tongues are gonna wag."

"Ah, let'em. I don't care," Sakura replied. Now nearly twelve years old, Sakura, like many, had taken to a nearly constant "look". She wore simple black shoes that could easily be mistaken for boots, a black glitter dress under an elegant black satin vest with a gold branch design on it and blue dots down the center of the skirt, black lacings around her forearms and wrists, and a black cape over her shoulders_._ She now carried a black staff of her own with a circle on the top adorned with tiny white wings and a silver star in the center of the circle, as well as a silver band around the rod just under the circle and a silver lined bottom.

"Dare I ask how his majesty's doing?" Yurak asked, the two moving off to the side to allow the other guards to begin offloading the prisoners and acquired treasures and supplies. Prince Lotor was leading an invasion force in another part of the galaxy, and wasn't expected back for some time. King Zarkon on the other hand...

"How is he always? Impatient, angry, and scary," Sakura replied. Yurak chuckled, and Sakura glanced behind him as the new slaves were offloaded from the ship. Among them, she noticed the five humans, all looking resolutely ahead, all five of them male. The first had black hair that ended just past his shoulders, and piercing black eyes. He wore a red jumpsuit with white lining and two symbol patches on his chest – a blue square with a diagonal dash on the right and a black oval with an inverted "V" on the left – and white boots. The second had short black hair and black eyes, and wore a blue shirt and pants with black shoes. The third had medium brown hair and brown eyes; he wore beige pants, and a blue shirt under a brown jacket, with brown shoes.

The fourth surprised Sakura – he was a giant, at least as tall as Zarkon! He had messy dark brown hair partially hiding an orange headband on his forehead and black eyes, and wore orange pants, a yellow-orange shirt, dark brown boots, and a brown vest jacket. Sakura couldn't help but wonder how they'd managed to subdue the man. And last, but certainly not least, was the fifth, who, to Sakura's even greater surprise, was a kid! In fact, he couldn't have been too much older than she was. His chocolate brown hair and eyes seemed to meld perfectly with his small, round face, he wore a green shirt and pants with grey shoes, a green headband on the top of his head, and a pair of wire frame glasses on his face. And despite herself, Sakura found herself thinking only one thing; 'He's kind of cute...'

Oh, sure, she had seen human slaves before, in the mines and the pits, but they barely registered for her anymore, most of them having been down there since before she had begun her training under Haggar, others only slightly less so. And even those her own age other than the one girl she'd taken as a personal servant rarely got her attention, mostly through being attentive to their work and never really doing anything to draw said attention. But this time, for the first time she could remember...

"Shouldn't you get back before Haggar starts calling you?" Yurak asked, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts and returning her attention to her compatriot.

"Hm? Oh, yes, I probably should," she replied, and turned and headed towards the hall leading towards the throne room. "See you soon!" she called over her shoulder, and he gave her a light wave. As she reached the hall's entrance she glanced one last time to the five humans. They never once glanced around at their surroundings. They simply walked forward with the rest of the line toward the corridor that lead toward the arena, a certain dignity in their steps. With that, she hurried along to the throne room.

Once there, Sakura took her position quickly. Haggar had formally introduced her to the court and the Governor Generals not long after her eighth birthday, and ever since she would regularly attend the Royal Court alongside her "mother". As Haggar always sat in a chair not far from the throne itself, Sakura had opted to position herself to Haggar's left and just behind her. This had two advantages – a.) it demonstrated that she saw her place as being below Haggar's, which for now it in fact was, and b.) it allowed her a more or less safe distance from King Zarkon.

There had been occasions where Zarkon had in fact asked that she stand between the two for a particular function, and there was no question he was testing her resolve in regards to serving him and being in the same room with him by making her stand within arms' reach of him. And both Sakura and Haggar had no doubt that Zarkon was also delighting in Sakura's fear of him. Though Sakura had learned to expertly mask her discomfort and terror of the man, she would still "slip" every once in a great while, and it seemed to please Zarkon no end. Sakura personally, though privately, longed for the day Zarkon would finally die, and Lotor would take his place, and had even secretly daydreamed, more than once, of concocting a spell to hasten that day's coming. Of course, she spoke of neither of these to anyone; she was no fool, and in no great rush to be tossed into the arena herself.

"Your majesty," she gave a small bow as she took her place beside Haggar. "Master Haggar."

"Hm, you're a little late, aren't you?" Zarkon barely glanced at her.

"Just greeting Commander Yurak on his return, sire," she said. Years of practice had taught her never to obfuscate or attempt to hide anything from Zarkon. Excuses were pointless, and the truth was easiest and fastest.

"All is well, I trust, dearie?" Haggar asked, stroking Cova who sat in her lap.

"Yes, Master," Sakura replied.

"So, did you get a look at them?" a calm, male voice asked, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Spinner Sun, her own familiar, fly in and perch on her right shoulder. Spinner looked like a black stuffed cat toy, with a round head just slightly out of proportion in size to his body with pointed ears on the top, the insides of which were light blue, just like his eyes. He also had two light blue, tiny, insect-like wings on his back, each one in two teardrop like parts, the forward slightly larger than the rear; it was on these, combined with simple levitation magic, that he flew. His tail ended in a noticeable small spiral.

"Yeah, just as they got off and went into the tunnel to the arena," Sakura answered him. "Been awhile since _you_ braved the court." Spinner Sun was known to spend most of his time hiding in Haggar and Sakura's joint quarters, most commonly reading a book as he was quite literate, only rarely coming out to the royal court, or anywhere else. No one knew for sure his reasoning, but most assumed he shared his mistress's fear of King Zarkon, but to a far greater extent.

"Yes, what brings you out today, little toy?" Zarkon actually glanced in their direction, though both expertly showed no outward signs of fear. "Finally run out of books to read?"

"No, sire, merely curious as to the human explorers, as my lady is," Spinner answered quickly and respectfully.

"Heh, you must be to actually show yourself again," Zarkon sneered, then returned his attention to the royal court. Sakura quietly let out a sigh of relief that he was no longer paying attention to her, for now. A few moments later Yurak came walking in and bowed to his King.

"The slaves have been herded into the arena, sire. The blue robeast has never been more ready for combat, and we await only your presence in the royal box to start the festivities," he declared.

"Hurry and have the slaves battle the robeast, his majesty is bored to death!" Haggar urged, and Zarkon's earlier choice to make snide remarks to her and Spinner suddenly made more sense to Sakura – he was using the two of them for cheap, momentary entertainment!

"Ahh, let us go then," Zarkon rose up, as did Haggar, and they headed towards the arena.

"I think I'll pass," Spinner started, but never got to finish the thought.

"Nonsense!" Zarkon waved his empty hand. "You want to see the human space explorers, and you shall, just before the robeast tears them apart!" the old king cackled happily. Spinner just drooped his head in submission, not fool enough to try and argue with the supreme ruler of the Galra Empire.

The arena roared with life that day. It was not Sakura's first time attending the gladiatorial combats, Haggar had introduced her to them when she was seven and a half, and she was now long immune to the slaves plaintive death screams and cries for mercy. She sat next to Haggar, again to her mentor/caretaker's left, in the royal box, Yurak standing to King Zarkon's right. Spinner remained on Sakura's shoulder, having opted to conserve energy by letting her carry him. Yurak rose his energy sword, and in the arena below, the smaller doors were opened, and several slaves armed with swords, including the five humans, were shoved inside.

"Release the blue robeast!" Zarkon roared, and the main huge door opposite the ones the slaves emerged from opened, and the robeast in question stepped out, roaring and ready to go. It charged the victims sent out to it, and the slaves valiantly charged back, swinging their swords in an effort to save their lives. The robeast didn't even hesitate, sweeping with one mighty clawed hand at its opponents, slashing four down quickly, and clipping the brown jacketed human on the left arm. The humans then pulled back and to everyone's surprise quickly organized while other slaves were felled. The little one quickly dashed under the beast's legs, sliding to avoid its hands as it turned its attention to him, while the red and black clothed humans dashed to the side and took a joint slash at its hip, managing to land a blood-drawing blow.

Meanwhile, the brown jacketed human and the giant human each took a different stance, brown jacket – Sakura decided at this point she _really_ should have found out their names – taking to the side and, somewhat futilely, attempting to slice the robeast's Achilles heel tendon, while giant stood his ground in front of the robeast and deflected the beast's swings rather well, though he still took a few hits to his own arms. Then the robeast's eyes widened when the little human stabbed his sword straight up between the monster's legs into its, well...yeah...

The beast let out a mighty yowl of pain and dropped to its knees as the humans jumped back a step. All stared on, and then brown jacket started to move forward, his sword raised.

"Lance, wait," the red clothed one, apparently the leader, said, raising a hand, then turned to the remaining surviving non-human slaves in the arena. "Any of you want a crack at him?" The response was practically unanimous as the other slaves practically swarmed over the robeast, slashing away. Sadly, the human's brief allowed reprieve was all it needed, as it pulled out the little human's sword, discarded as it had apparently been too deeply lodged for him to pull it back out, and tossed it away, slashing with its claws at some of the slaves as it opted to pull back. It recouped briefly, managed to further injure some of the combatants, including the five humans, and killing a few others before it fell back to its gate completely, its own injuries beginning to tire it.

"ENOUGH!" roared Zarkon. "Well, done warriors, you have forced my mighty robeast into a stalemate. For now, you who have survived shall be permitted to live. Remove them from the arena!" With that, the robeast's door was re-opened, allowing it to fall back out of the arena, then the guards came from the other entrances to retrieve the slaves, who were ushered away. Zarkon rose from his seat, and Haggar and Sakura followed suit, the group, along with Yurak, heading down the hallway back into the castle. Sakura let out a breath of relief she didn't even realize she was holding until that moment.

"Oh, did that match actually get you excited over something?" Zarkon asked, an evil leer on his face, causing Sakura to blush madly.

"Uh, no, well, maybe a little, uh..." for the first time in her life, Sakura didn't know how to respond to a question.

"You weren't actually worried about the robeast, were you?" Yurak asked, his own smile more jovial and teasing.

"Of course not! Why would I worry about him?" she asked back.

"One of the humans, maybe?" Spinner queried. "You did seem to pay rather rapt attention to the little one, especially when he did that sliding diversion charge between the robeast's legs." Sakura just knew she was blushing hard now, her tongue tied into too many knots to ever hope to make a truly comprehensible answer.

"Wha...uh...um...well..." was pretty much all she managed to stammer out. Haggar cackled and reached over with one arm to hug her apprentice, Spinner jumping off of Sakura's shoulder and floating behind her and Haggar to avoid getting caught between the two as they did so.

"Oh dear, is my little apprentice finally beginning to blossom into womanhood?" she asked, her smile also teasing. "I knew this day had to come, but somehow I thought it was still years off yet."

"So puberty rears its ugly little head, does it?" Zarkon crooned. "Hahahaha, oh, how sickeningly sweet."

"Now, now, Zarkon," Haggar admonished. "Sakura is a human herself, you know. It only makes sense she'd be attracted to a male of her own kind."

"Umm, if I'm no longer needed, may I take my leave for now, your majesty?" Spinner inquired, attempting to both make an escape and save his mistress from further embarrassment by distracting everyone from the conversation.

"No, you will return to the court with us," Zarkon replied.

"Is that an...order, sire?" Spinner asked.

"Yes," Zarkon answered, and Spinner sighed.

"As you command, your majesty," he said, and stayed with the group.

"Um, mama Haggar?" Sakura whispered to her master a few minutes later. "Do you think I could, maybe, have the little human to, um, play with, before he's killed?" Haggar couldn't help but cackle at Sakura's all but open admission to their suspicions.

"We'll see, dearie, we'll see," she replied.

As fate would have it, the next few days had Sakura bogged down with lessons and a few small court appearances, no time for fun and games at all. The day after that had another slave ship arrive with fresh slaves, and this time when the healthiest and strongest were thrown to the blue robeast, none survived. It was on this day that the once-thought-impossible happened. Or at the very least, before now no one had ever been crazy enough to try it in this fashion.

Sakura was once again at her place in court beside Haggar, Zarkon making some kind of boring speech about the current state of affairs with the Galaxy Alliance, and how he was gloating about withholding information from them about the space explorers. His enjoyment of his deceit was cut short when there was a sudden sound of a great crash, and the whole room shook as if someone had set off a bomb nearby. Small amounts of debris fell from the ceiling around them.

"What's happening?" Zarkon roared. "Were we hit by a bomb?"

"No," Haggar stared up at the throne room monitor screen, which someone had already switched on to reveal the cause of the commotion. " One of our slave ships!"

"Well, the pilots need flying lessons!" Sakura barked, for once too annoyed at the sudden thud to be worried about Zarkon's reaction to her speaking without first being addressed. Ironically, Zarkon was about to let it slide and, in fact, agree with her assessment when Yurak came running in just as the last of the debris hit the floor, terror and disbelief all over his face.

"King Zarkon, the five space explorers have escaped and stolen a slave ship!" he declared quickly, bowing to one knee.

"WHAT?" Zarkon jumped to his feet, more angry than Sakura could ever remember seeing him. At the same time, her own eyes widened in surprise at the news.

"Seriously?" she asked. "They actually succeeded...?"

"Recapture them at once, Yurak!" Zarkon roared. "And don't come back without them! We'll tear them limb form limb as an example to all of the other slaves!"

"As you command, sire," Yurak replied. "You shall have them!" With that he rose to his feet and started to dash out to his command ship.

"Witch Sakura, go with him!" Zarkon commanded, and Yurak halted, turning to look back.

"Sire?" he blinked with his remaining flesh eye.

"Your Majesty?" Haggar also looked up in surprise at this command.

"A..wha...bu..huh...na...whu?" Sakura babbled, suddenly finding herself unable to string two words together if her life depended on it.

"It'll be good field experience, and it's past time you got some without Haggar holding your hand all the time," Zarkon stated, which surprised them all the more. Haggar had taken Sakura off-world on several brief planetary blitzkrieg missions over the past four years, but Sakura had never gone offworld without her before, not that she could remember anyway. And now Zarkon himself was ordering her to go, well, solo? Even as her mind raced, Zarkon noted her lack of movement, and grew impatient. "Get going!" he barked, and Sakura snapped back to reality.

"YES, SIRE!" She snapped, louder than intended, and dashed down to the main floor and after Yurak, who gave one quick glance back to Haggar.

"Don't worry, Witch Haggar, I promise to bring her back in one piece," he told the elderly witch, and resumed his dash to his command ship, Sakura hot on his heals and making the silver star on her staff flash three times with her magic. He didn't question it, as he had a hunch what she was doing. She looked up to her cybernetic companion, curiosity in her eyes.

"So...how did they...?" she asked.

"They made a rope from spare linen they snuck into their cell, and used it to reach the barred window. I can only imagine it was the big one who bent the bars. After that it looks like they climbed down to the nearest pier and hitched a ride with some of the vultures down to the ground somewhere, then simply took advantage of a gap in port security to sneak in and grab a slave ship, killing more than a few guards in the process. I can't believe this is happening!" he explained to the best of his currently available knowledge. At this point they reached the command ship, Spinner flying in from a nearby side entrance and floating over to his mistress. Yurak nodded, having figured this was the point of flashing her staff earlier – summoning her familiar to her.

"Dare I ask what's going on?" Spinner queried. Sakura gave him a quick rundown on the sudden shift of events and her current orders. "Makes sense," he nodded. "You do need some solo experience, and a quick pursue-and-retrieve-escaped-slaves mission shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Yurak agreed as they entered the elevator to take them to the bridge, then he switched on the intercom to bark immediate take off and pursuit orders. The command ship launched and rose out of the castle, blasting into space after the stolen slave ship. The three arrived on the bridge quickly, Yurak taking his command chair and Sakura taking a position next to him, Spinner parking himself once more on her shoulder. The bridge crew gave a brief curious glance, then returned to their work, paying it no further mind.

"How much of a lead do they have?" Yurak barked.

"Not much sir, and the slave ship is slow, we should overtake them quickly," a soldier responded sharply. And so they did, the slave ship rapidly growing on the main view screen. In the process, though, they covered nearly five lightyears.

"Get the impression they haven't completely figured out the throttle controls yet?" Spinner mused, for the slave ship seemed to be only going at about two-thirds full speed. Of course, the command ship could easily go two-to-three times faster than the slave ship ever could.

"Heh, guess their luck ran out on them," Yurak replied, then barked to the bridge crew, "Open fire, all forward lasers!" The command ship's lasers fired, and scored a direct hit on the slave ship, rocking it hard. And then, to everyone's shock, it fired back, scoring an equally direct hit on the command ship. Sakura instinctively rose her staff and cast a shield spell around the bridge to protect all of them as the room shook from the blast.

"Looks like they didn't have any trouble with the weapons systems!" Spinner's eyes were as wide as anyone's.

"Fire all weapons!" Yurak roared. "Open up with everything we've got!" And the order was obeyed, every weapon on the command ship firing at once toward the slave ship. Some missed, but many scored a direct hit, Swiss cheesing the slave ship in seconds, and sending it spiraling out of control, the ship vanishing through the black clouds of the dark nebula that the Galra star system sat within.

"Heh, that got them, that surely sent them to hell," Yurak grinned as repair crews got to work repairing the damage they'd sustained. "That's the end of the space explorers. Zarkon will be pleased."

"Um, didn't King Zarkon want them brought back alive for a public dismembering?" Sakura asked as she dropped the shield spell. "Shouldn't we at least bring back the bodies to keep him from getting too...disappointed?" Yurak scowled lightly, but saw her point.

"Yeah, if only to make sure they didn't somehow survive," he grunted. "Follow them!" he ordered, and the pilots directed their ship to exit the dark clouds of the nebula, and within moments found themselves in orbit around another, green planet. The slave ships debris trail showed it plummeting into the planet's gravity well, falling through the atmosphere to the surface below. The sensors were switched on, attempting to locate the ship, or at least what was left of it, anyway.

"I think we may just get in trouble; depending on how they hit the atmosphere, they may have disintegrated," Spinner commented quietly. Sakura just stared at the planet below them on their view screen.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Hmm, let's see," the navigator checked his star charts. "Ah, the Altea System, we're currently in orbit around Planet Arus."

"Arus?" Yurak blinked. "Haven't heard that name in a long time."

"You know it?" Sakura asked him.

"Yeah," he glanced to her. "The forces of Galra bombed it effectively back to its bronze age about fifteen years ago. Zarkon and your mentor, Witch Haggar, went down to the surface personally to confront its ruler, King Alfor, and his wife, Diana." He looked upward, his eye glazing as he remembered it. "Zarkon had me, a simple Captain in his fleet, personally cut off their heads! Heh, right after his 'highness' gave Zarkon some lip about the righteous triumphing and the wicked eventually perishing. What a fool."

"Whoa, sounds like you had a good time back then, huh?" Sakura commented.

"Yeah, you could say that," he agreed, then returned to the present from his memories, turning his attention back to the bridge crew. "Have you found anything yet?"

"The ship's debris trail seems to lead to a desert area, sir," the sensor officer reported. "We have yet to lock onto any remains, and life signs are fairly plentiful on and below the surface. We cannot yet be certain whether or not the humans survived."

"Send out a few Star Cutters to search for the ship and the explorers' remains," Yurak ordered. "We need to take _something_ back to Zarkon."

"If there's anything left," Sakura stated, the crew quietly agreeing with the assessment.

What none of them yet knew, though, was that Planet Arus held a secret, one that had been waiting to be dug up for almost twelve thousand years.

A few minutes passed, and the slave ship's shattered remains were found smashed into the side of a mountain in an area where the sun was setting, trace evidence indicating the ejection seats had been launched, but it was hard to tell if the explorers actually left the ship or not, it had been so mangled and destroyed upon impact. Yurak had decided immediately the ship was a loss, and ordered the remains be abandoned, a salvage crew could come back later to attempt to save anything worth the trouble, if there was still anything worth the trouble at all. Since it had landed in a desert, it was surmised that the five humans could have ejected semi-safely, then died when landing on the desert floor, a sandstorm burying them before anyone could reach the bodies. But then someone noticed tracks through the scorching sands.

One officer commented that they could belong to anybody, not necessarily the humans they sought. But Yurak was almost sure they did belong to the ones they were looking for, and if nothing else it warranted checking if only to cover all bases, and ordered the search to continue. They would not leave until they had the bodies, in one condition or another. The dense fog that rolled up a few minutes later didn't help matters, either.

" The dense fog is obscuring all scanner readouts, visibility is at near zero, sir," the coms operator reported, relaying from the Star Cutters flying around in the atmosphere below.

"Then send some ships to a lower altitude!" Yurak barked. "We need to determine the survival or demise of the escaped humans beyond all doubt! We can't return to Zarkon without it!"

"I just hope there's something to find," Spinner commented. "If they burned up with the slave ship, or were buried in the desert, or eaten by wild animals, or even desperate natives turned to cannibalism, then we're gonna be in big trouble." He glanced at his mistress, who'd been silent for a while now, her attention seemingly absorbed by the planet below. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Hm?" she blinked. "No, it just feels...like...there's something...I don't know..."

"Hmm?" Spinner blinked. He glanced at the planet below, and opened up his own, limited magical senses, and blinked. It did feel like there was...something...and yet he couldn't quite be sure. "A few remnant untrained magic users subconsciously flaring their power, perhaps?"

"I don't think so," Sakura replied. "It doesn't really feel that way." She stared a moment longer, then shook it off, grinning sheepishly. "I dunno, maybe it's just been awhile since I've seen such a nice, lively world. Hahahaha...," she said, and then forced a small laugh.

Yurak listened to their conversation lightly, but took in everything said, filing both the commentary and Sakura's behavior away. If it was one thing he'd learned about dealing with witches, it was that when something drew their attention, even when they weren't sure what it was that was drawing their minds to it, it could turn out to be something important. Perhaps he'd ask Haggar about it later. He couldn't recall the old witch getting distracted like this fifteen years ago, but then he'd been focused on other things, like conquering the planet and slaughtering the royal family, and as far as he knew Haggar had never indicated there had been anything in particular amiss.

"Take us down into the atmosphere," Yurak decided. "We'll assist in the search ourselves."

"Yes, sir," the pilots responded, and the command ship soon dropped into the planets gravity well, the view outside changing from black void and stars to blue skies, mountains, forests, and lakes. As they flew casually over all this, the many milliard Star Cutters formed up to flank their command carrier, many eyes on the look out for anything that would aid in their quest. A few moments later they passed over a ruined city, buildings and streets still showing evidence of damage from the battle fifteen years ago. There was little indication of movement, and it was determined that if the explorers were alive, they would not have reached these ruins yet. But then Sakura's eyes beheld something she hadn't expected.

A castle, clearly designed and built by humans in classic European medieval style, stood upon a hilltop, and had clearly seen better days. Laser damage abounded, and a large chunk of the back was simply gone, giving it a somewhat upside down reverse "L" shape that seemed to fly in the face of both gravity and the laws of physics!

"Wow, you guys really pounded the crap outta that, huh?" Sakura mused. "What's keeping it up?"

"Grit, spit, and prayer, I imagine," Yurak replied, noting the place. "The so called 'Castle Of Lions;' I'm honestly surprised it's still there."

"Lions?" Sakura blinked.

"Probably for the tacky taste in statuary," Spinner said, pointing with his paw to the statue standing on the pedestal at the end of the bridge that spanned the lake moat to the castle, which resembled a rather large, roaring male lion with a pair of huge feathery wings sprouting from its back. It was actually rather beautiful in its own way. A few other smaller lion statues, some with wings, some without, some with partial wings that had clearly taken damage years ago, dotted the castle itself. Sakura had to admit it did seem a bit much.

"Hm, maybe," she replied.

"Hey, Sakura, wanna nudge the castle to see if it'll finally fall over?" Yurak grinned at her.

"Hmm, maybe later," Sakura smiled back, and the two chuckled lightly. Just then the interstellar com came online, and an unpleasantly familiar voice came over them.

"Attention all attack ships of the Galra Imperial Forces, this is King Zarkon!" Zarkon's voice chimed, and Sakura's face reflexively stiffened for a moment in fear, a small "eep!" escaping her lips. For once, Yurak felt the same way, but he masked it.

"Oh crap," he muttered only. Zarkon's voice went on, unperturbed.

"I command you to locate the five detestable humans who dared flee from us, and drag them back to Planet Galra immediately! Destroy every mountain, every tree, every living thing on Planet Arus if you must, but find them! They will be torn into pieces as an example for all the other slaves to remember the price of disobedience!" Zarkon's voice exhorted over the transmitters.

"You'll have fun then, my evil pet," Haggar could be heard cackling in the background. "You'll have them for dinner!" This was followed by Cova giving out a light yowl.

"I think I'll pass on that meal, myself," Spinner commented dryly. Yurak lightly pressed a switch on his command panel.

"Yes, sire, we're looking closely for them now, and will not return until we have them, or their battered remnants," he declared.

"Yeah, the slave ship didn't land very well, at all," Sakura added.

"As long as you bring them back, Commander Yurak, Witch Sakura!" Zarkon's voice growled. "_Don't_ disappoint me!"

"You're doing well, my apprentice, worry not," Haggar's voice added.

"Thank you, Master Haggar," Sakura beamed with pride. The interstellar com then shut off, and they all took a quick breath of relief. Clearly, Zarkon was getting just a little bit impatient. But then, what else was new?

"How'd they know we were on Arus?" Spinner asked, scratching his chin lightly in curiosity.

"Mama Haggar, probably," Sakura replied.

"That, or he's had someone monitor our progress from the moment we left," a bridge officer offered.

"Continue forward!" Yurak commanded. The bridge crew complied, and the command ship surged onward toward the desert area where the slave ship had crashed, Yurak intent on starting a ground search from there, in case the explorers had in fact been buried, or found some cave or sand hole to run into and hide. From there they would move out and search as far as needed to locate the five escaped humans.

Unbeknownst to them, far below several surviving native Arusians scattered about in panic at the sight of the ships and the feel of the vibrations in the ground the noise of its massive engines caused. And even less did they know that not only had the explorers survived, they had already arrived at and entered the castle below them, and sworn fealty to the local sovereign.

Unaware of these facts, they flew onward, seeking their missing prey. Sakura glanced at the castle one last time as they passed over it, taking in a fairly wide moat surrounding the land upon which it stood, and a canyon curling around behind its hilltop, her face thoughtful.

"I wonder..." she quietly thought aloud, but then dismissed it, having other things to worry about for now.

* * *

And voila, episodes one and two, redux! It is interesting to note that in Golion it is stated that our heroes had in fact fought a Deathblack Beastman(a.k.a. Robeast) upon their arrival, and had in fact been in that cell for an indeterminate amount of time before that particular slave ship and its crew of unfortunate prisoners arrived and were thrown into the arena, the marks on their arms around the skull tattoos/brands(Golion never actually makes any comment on them) referred to as injuries sustained in said fight. So, I thought I'd work that in.

Also, the "Arus was attacked by Doom fifteen years ago" also comes from Golion, it being stated that it is Farla(Allura)'s sixteenth birthday when she is first introduced properly.

And in reviewing the first three episodes, I found the main bad guys – Zarkon/Daibazaal, Haggar/Honerva, and Yurak/Sadak - had very little face time in episodes two and three, and since I didn't want to massively gloss over them entirely, I opted to have Sakura join Yurak on the "hunt" for the boys so I could more easily get the action to Arus and the coming rebirth of Voltron/Golion! After all, to reiterate the adventures of the V-Force when at present they aren't yet affected by Sakura's presence would arguably be redundant. (They don't even know about Sakura right now, and won't for a while yet. Fear not, they will!)

On a final note, Sakura's costume originally included a black overcoat with white fur lining, but as my beta pointed out to me it was a bit much, especially for the coming desert scenes, and was thus removed. I came up with her look by using Gaia's Dream avatar maker at , and it can be found, both with and without the coat, on the site, just click "Outfits", then put "Sakura Kinomoto"(minus the quotes) in the seach line and they'll pop up. Mind you, the staff I gave the avatar version of her is not the one described in this fic, it was just the closest available in the program. Her actual staff/wand is a black and silver variant her original CCS dark pink and gold Star Key Wand/Staff, just for clarification.

So next up I'll be mushing the back half of the four part pilot together as well, and a legend shall rise like a phoenix!

Scorpinac

LotornoMiko – I don't actually think of Sakura as being any more intelligent than others her age, per se, but in this reality she _did _start her education somewhat earlier than most kids would, and so I am merely attempting to extrapolate on how far said education would have progressed over time from that starting point; I hope that makes sense. Otherwise, I'm glad to know you're enjoying this, and hope I continue to please!


	5. Rebirth Of A Legend

Chapter 5: Rebirth Of A Legend

In the court of Planet Galra, King Zarkon sat upon his throne, and his high witch advisor, Haggar, kneeled before him on the floor below.

"What could be taking so long?" he wondered. "How hard is it to find five measly humans on a planet I supposedly wiped clean of sentient life fifteen years ago?"

"Someone may have survived all this time, and now is sheltering them," Haggar offered. Zarkon growled at the suggestion. "It is only a thought; perhaps we should send a robeast to Arus?"

"A robeast? Why? Commander Yurak is handling things on Arus well enough, if slowly, and your precious little apprentice, Sakura, stands at his side to assist him with her own magic skills," Zarkon queried; he himself had ordered Sakura on the mission, after all. "Do you mean to tell me you no longer think them up to this simple task?"

"No, my liege, I do not," Haggar replied. "But I do sense a foreboding. I merely suggest to make doubly sure of our steps, as we have always done in the past." She didn't add that her magical senses had given her an unsettling partial vision, unclear but to give her the impression of something old now stirring from its ancient rest.

"Very well," Zarkon agreed, then rose to his feet. "Send a robeast to Planet Arus immediately!" he commanded. Quickly, one of the mightiest beasts was selected, placed in a fast transport craft, and blasted into space toward the planet Arus.

"WHAT?" Yurak snapped as the ship's sensor officer relayed the information and an image of the launched vessel was put on the main screen to confirm the report. "Is this really how little faith King Zarkon has in me! I don't need a robeast for this! I'll find the escaped space explorers before it even arrives!"

"It does seem a little overkill," Sakura admitted as she watched the craft on the monitor. She couldn't help but think it looked not unlike a red coffin, which seemed an odd choice of design to her. But then, most of the Galran designs seemed to be intended to give impressions of oncoming death, clearly to intimidate the soon to be conquered.

Yurak's ship arrived at the desert area in good time, and the ground troops were released.

"All troops, find the five humans or their remains, and do it quickly! Anything that moves is your enemy, so fire without mercy!" Yurak roared his orders as the troops disembarked onto the surface of planet Arus. Sakura carefully glanced at her angry friend.

"Isn't that a bit much?" she asked. Even as she did, the first shots were fired, wiping out a few unfortunate snakes that had tried to avoid the noisy soldiers by slithering away from their concealing shrubs and stones.

"Hardly. It's not like there's anything important still living on this planet," Yurak replied. "In fact, I think it's time for a more hands on approach!" With that he left the bridge, Sakura following after him.

"Gotten kind of testy, hasn't he?" Spinner mused from her shoulder.

"Maybe," Sakura said. "But I can kinda understand it; it is a little annoying to think King Zarkon doesn't trust us to do this without any extra help." Spinner just lightly rolled his eyes, not entirely convinced.

They soon reached the main hangar and joined the next wave of troops as they departed the command ship, Yurak and Sakura riding atop one of the Skull Tanks, Sakura to Yurak's right, several Star Cutters flying air cover overhead. The sands were blowing, so Sakura used her magic to make a quick, if temporary, hood to wear over her head to keep the sands out of her hair and eyes, Spinner quickly snuggling himself inside it as well. They moved forward quickly and mercilessly, Sakura noticing a few troops carrying sensor equipment to scan further into the ground, in the event the human explorers were hidden in an underground cave or sinkhole, or were just simply buried. Yurak seemed to get more agitated as the minutes ran, rather than calming down.

"Hear me, ground forces, I brings the orders of King Zarkon, Emperor of the Galra Empire, himself!" he bellowed, a personal com on his collar transmitting his words to everyone on the ground. "Find the escaped human slaves! If dead, drag back their carcasses; if alive, haul them in, and we'll dismember them for daring to try and flee from us!"

"I'm pretty sure King Zarkon wants to have that done back in the court so he can watch," Sakura commented.

"You really want to make him any more annoyed about all this than he already is?" Spinner asked her.

"I'm more worried about _Zarkon_ getting more annoyed at us," Sakura responded.

"Oh, good point," Spinner admitted. The ships and troops fired some more, blasting rocks and other desert animals that made the mistake of twitching. And then...two soldiers in the distance suddenly twitched and fell in a slump to the ground, a small form "assisting" one of them in falling with a flying kick. The small fighter fired a few more shots from his gun, bringing down three more soldiers before they finally started shooting back, the small enemy diving behind some rocks for cover.

"Oh, think you're clever, do you?" Yurak roared. "Kill him! Or I'll have you tossed to the robeast for practice when it arrives!"

"Hm?" Sakura stared at the form, then waved her wand, yanking a pair of square shaped hi-tech binoculars from a nearby trooper, floating them through the air and into her hands so she could use them to get a better look at the attacking enemy. She blinked. The outfit was decidedly different, some kind of skin tight spandex combat suit with green colored hard plastic shoulders, green boots, a black belt around the waist with a gold belt buckle, a green "v" collar, and a solid green helmet, but the one wearing it was definitely him!

"It's the little one!" she exclaimed happily. "He survived!"

"And if he did, probably so did the other four," Yurak found himself grinning again. This job was starting to look up again. Sakura then grabbed his com, Yurak only able to blink and give out a simple, "Huh?"

"Change of orders!" Sakura bellowed into the com. "Take that little human alive! Break his limbs if you have to, but I want him back on the command ship breathing and with a healthy pulse!" Yurak stared at her, causing her to blink at him blushingly. "So we can take him back for a very public execution before King Zarkon!" she added quickly. Yurak let out a little sigh, and shook his head.

"Fine, I'll have him placed in a spare room, you can take a few minutes to 'play' with him on the way back to Galra, if he lives through this," he said. "Now give that back."

"I...I...I...here," she handed the com back to Yurak as she blushed, not really wanting to respond to his last statement. As they spoke, the battle was engaged, and the little human actually did quite well, taking down several additional soldiers and dodging various laser fire from both troops _and _Star Cutters, the latter being the far more impressive! He made use of what cover he could, and eventually was surrounded...

Pidge, the human in question, was beginning to doubt his jump-out-and-attack plan's veracity. He wasn't sure how many Galran foot troops he'd managed to take out before being forced into the small crevice to take cover, but he could hear dozens, if not more, coming up on his location, and that wasn't even taking the multiple Star Cutter one-person crafts currently in the air that were coming at him as well into account.

"I wonder what was with that sudden shift in orders?" he pondered, having heard it bellowed out from one of the Galran soldiers' personal coms while he had been attempting close combat. He risked a glance from his position at the Skull Tank carrying the leader, whom he recalled was called Yurak on the slave ship that had hauled them to Planet Doom, and this time took a little better note of the person either sitting or standing, he couldn't quite tell which, next to him. If he was standing, he wasn't very tall, Pidge would hazard not a hell of a lot taller than himself, really, and he, or more likely she from the sound of the voice on the coms, was wrapped in a black cloak, a hood covering their head and hiding it from view so he couldn't really make out a face from where he was.

"Apparently he or she has a fair amount of clout in the ranks not to have the order change questioned, whoever they are," Pidge mused to himself. "Wish I knew who that was, I don't remember a creep my size among the bad guys on the slave ship." Just then a few shots came unnervingly close, and his musings came to quick end as he ducked back down and had to grudgingly admit to himself that he was outnumbered and outgunned. He pulled the gold personal comlink that doubled as his belt buckle and called back to the castle and his commander, Keith, for immediate assistance. But mere moments after making contact and admitting his blunder, another shot rang out from a Star Cutter that smacked the stone near him, blasting it to bits and knocking him forward.

Realizing he had no time left, Pidge switched off the com and returned it to his belt while dashing away as fast as he could.

Sakura watched the action through her binoculars, Yurak having acquired a pair of his own, and was a little displeased that her command to take the human alive was being ignored. She remained impressed with the human boy, though, as he dashed madly across the rocks to avoid their troops and continued to manage to get off a few shots of his own, eliminating a couple more soldiers.

"Whoa, how many of our troops has that one little guy taken out now?" she asked aloud.

"About seventeen or eighteen. We'll get an accurate count later," Yurak growled in reply. "What are you idiots doing out there? It's one scrawny little human! Get him, already! Alive if possible, dead is once again permissible if necessary!"

"Hey!" Sakura snapped, glaring up at him.

"He's caused enough damage!" Yurak growled back. "If he lives, you can have him for a while. If he doesn't, deal!" Sakura huffed her annoyance, looking away, not really wanting to admit he had a point. Spinner leaned in to peak through her binoculars.

"Nimble little fellow, isn't he?" he commented.

"Hm?" Sakura turned back to glance through the binoculars again to see what he meant, just in time to see the human boy dodge a few more shots as he dashed along the edges of a small canyon, only now it was clear his left leg had suffered a minor blow as he was favoring his right leg. A few moments later a lucky shot grazed his shoulder and he fell forward into the canyon itself. A couple moments later three soldiers opened fire on the rock pillars overlooking the canyon, bringing them crashing down into the canyon below.

"Well?" Yurak grumbled.

"Buried, sir. No way he survived," one of the soldiers reported over the com. "Returning to main formation now."

"Darn it," Sakura moaned, then glanced up at Yurak again. "Cause you know Zarkon's gonna be upset he didn't get to watch him be dismembered," she added, a slight blush on her cheeks. "I wasn't really interested in him at all."

"Uh-huh," Yurak grinned. "Whatever makes you feel better, Sakura." He turned to look out ahead again. "You do have a point about Zarkon, though." The battalion had just started to move forward when a noise, like a low roll of thunder through the ground, was heard in the distance.

"Hm? What's that?" Spinner asked. Yurak and Sakura looked through their binoculars again in the direction of the noise, which was growing louder, closer, with each passing moment.

"What's this?" Yurak echoed Spinner's query as he spied what was coming toward them. There were four of them, one red, one blue, one green, one yellow, the shapes differing slightly, the yellow one bearing a cannon atop its back, but all were made of the most sleek and shining metal, and all four most definitely resembled -

"Lions?" Sakura blinked, her face puzzled. "They're...lions?" Even from this distance she could tell they were powerful, and she could feel a magic radiating off these mechanical beasts, magic far older than her aged master; and yet, it had a feeling of having just awoken from a deep slumber.

"Fire, you fools! Fire!" Yurak roared the command, and weapons began to do so in the direction of the four lions. The first volley missed, hitting the ground in front of the lions, throwing up a cloud of ash and fire – that the lions dashed right out of as though they hadn't even noticed! And then the yellow lion launched through the air, right at the Skull Tanks! Yurak and Sakura both gave out a scream of shock, then Yurak turned, scooped up Sakura under his left arm, and dove off the tank, making a mad dash to escape along with several of the nearby soldiers.

A moment later the yellow lion collided with the vacated tank, smashing it and causing it to explode apart. The lion then turned and with one mighty mechanical paw swatted another tank aside into two more, destroying all three! At the same time the green lion tore apart several more tanks, the red lion trod right over several soldiers, crushing them under, well, paw, and the blue lion also leapt into the air and tore apart a Star Cutter with it jaws before coming back to the ground!

"What the hell are they?" Yurak yelled as he ran.

"You're asking me?" Sakura screeched in his arm, so in shock herself at the sudden turn of events that she hadn't even thought to use her magic to make herself lighter, and thus easier for Yurak to carry, not that he seemed to be noticing, such was his current level of adrenaline.

"Can we possibly figure it out _after_ we get back to the command ship?" Spinner inquired, desperately trying not sound as panicked as he really was. Meanwhile, the battle, such as it was, continued. The ground troops were effectively routed, but the air support proceeded to regroup and attacked in formation, succeeding in momentarily pushing the green lion back. A moment later the yellow lion fired a rocket from its back canon, the red lion released a blast of raging fire from its jaws, and the blue lion shot energy blasts from its tale, rendering all but one Star Cutter in the formation into scrap. The green lion then leapt through the air and personally smashed the final airborne ship. The battle was indeed going in the lions' favor.

But the blast of fire had carried special significance for Sakura, who found herself thinking of her favorite story over the years, the one of a mighty robot imbued with magic that dared to challenge a space goddess.

"Could...could it possibly be...could they be pieces of..." she whispered to herself.

"Hm?" Spinner blinked at her.

"Huh?" she looked at him. "Oh, nothing, just thinking."

"Oh, okay," he said. "About what?" A piece of debris smacked down nearby, startling him. "Never mind, I'll ask later!"

A few moments later they reached the command ship and dove inside, along with everyone they still had. Yurak stalked straight to the bridge, not at all happy. Once there he took a brief breath to attempt to compose himself a little.

"All stations, prepare for immediate launch! I want us off the ground, ASAP!" he ordered. Several officers went to work getting it done, but he noticed a couple staring at him oddly. "What?"

"Um, Yurak?" Sakura piped up. "I think you can put me down now."

"Huh?" he blinked, turning to his right arm, where he was finally starting to notice he held something rather heavy, and blinked again at seeing Sakura still being held by him around her waist. "Oh! Right, sorry." He quickly set her back down on her feet, Sakura standing up and giving herself a quick dusting off and removing her magically created hood. "Weird, I don't recall picking you up."

"Probably on reflex when we all, well, uh, ran like scared children," Spinner suggested. Sakura scowled at him, and Yurak gave an annoyed sigh.

"Sometimes, Spinny, you're a little too blunt," he grunted.

"Spinny?" Spinner glared in annoyance.

"Uh, Commander," one of the officer's piped up.

"Yes?" Yurak glanced down at him.

"The lion things are headed right for us!" the officer replied.

"Oh, hell..." Yurak and Sakura chimed in-sync.

"Launching now, sir!" another officer said, and the command ship launched into the air, kicking up enough sand and dust outside the ship to momentarily slow the approaching lions.

"Finally, some good news!" Yurak grinned, and hit the ship-to-planet loudspeakers, feeling a need to gloat. "Fools," he roared at the four lions. "Did you really think we'd let you destroy the pride of the Galran fleet? Hahahahaha!" he laughed cruelly.

"Commander Yurak, the robeast is now arriving from planet Galra," an officer reported.

"What? Where?" Yurak asked, and it was brought up on the main screen, the red coffin-like ship plunging through the atmosphere toward the ground below.

"No offense, Yurak," Sakura commented, "But now I'm kinda glad they sent that." Yurak hated to agree with her, but she was right. In the end a robeast really had been necessary, after all. And then, as if to pour salt into the wound in his pride, Haggar herself appeared on the screen, communicating from Galra.

"Commander Yurak, you can let the robeast take it from here," she stated. "I hope all is well."

"Not really," Sakura replied first. "It _was_ going alright at first, but then we got counterattacked! And mama Haggar, it was lions!"

"Lions?" Haggar blinked.

"Yeah! Four huge mechanical space lions!" Sakura said, and rose her staff, creating a quick illusion of the enemy. "And the red one spat fire at one point! Could these be four of the five...you know..." Haggar stared intently at the illusion of the four lion-ship opponents.

"Maybe...," she commented quietly. "If they are...to think, all this time, on Arus..."

"Okay, could someone please fill me in?" Spinner asked, feeling more than a little confused. Yurak couldn't blame him, he was feeling the same way.

"Later," Haggar decided. "Release and enlarge the robeast!"

"But..." Yurak quipped, feeling more than a little flustered.

"It is the order of King Zarkon!" Haggar declared. That was enough, though it didn't stop Yurak from letting out another frustrated sigh.

"You heard her, get that robeast into action!" Yurak commanded.

Outside, the coffin ship finally hit the ground, and the command ship swerved about and fired a single beam upon it, charging it and the contents within with energy, the lions pausing as if unsure what to make of this new turn of events. A moment later the ship was torn apart as the robeast within broke free and grew to gargantuan size, topping at nearly eighty feet. It was demonic looking with bat-like ears and small bat-like "wings" coming off its shoulders as well as two additional bat-like "fins" on the back of its legs near its feet. Its skin was a brownish gray, it had no visible nose on its bald, roundish head that sported a black raised stripe across the center of the top, red eyes like a devil, and it also had two large drill-like protrusion from where its nipples should have been. Its wrists were adorned by a pair of white gauntlets, and a belt was wrapped around its waist, a pair of fused together white tubes on each side. "Monstrous" was almost too kind a word to describe it.

It roared at its opponents, which were now far smaller than itself. The four lions hesitated only a moment longer, then broke up and attacked the robeast from all four sides, the red and green jumping up and latching onto its arms while the yellow and blue leaped at the legs. The robeast roared, whether in pain or annoyance one could not tell, and quickly shook the green one off its left arm and then swatted off the yellow one before simply kicking the blue one away. The lions immediately regrouped, and made a concentrated effort for the legs, the three lions firing several weapons each, and the robeast grunted in pain from the impacts and fell to one knee. Apparently thinking they had it won, the lions charged forward fearlessly, and the robeast roared in annoyance, swinging its right arm forward, hard, finally dislodging the red lion that had still been hanging in there and sending it crashing into the other lions, knocking it, the green one, and the yellow one down hard. It then swung one hand and swatted the blue lion one more time, flipping it backwards, all four lions now lying in a small pile before the robeast.

The robeast rose back to its feet and roared in triumph, the lions now just laying there, not so much as a twitch. The robeast roared again and waited, but still the four lions didn't move, all signs of "life" having seemingly fled. The wind picked up, swirling the sand with it, as the robeast roared once more and then turned and started scanning around the area, seeking more opponents.

"Quick, sedate that thing!" Yurak barked his order, not wanting the robeast to choose the command ship as its next target. The bridge crew sprang into action, a second beam quickly being used on the robeast, which immediately settled down, dropping to the ground and passing out for the time being. Yurak sighed again, stroking his brow. "Everyone can stand down for now. I'm going to compose a report to send back to King Zarkon. Hopefully he won't send an execution squad."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Um, Yurak, if it's alright, I'm gonna hit the mess for a quick bite of, well, probably slop." Yurak nodded in agreement, understanding that the adrenaline had most likely burned away most of her energy. He himself was feeling a little hungry, and would most likely hit the mess himself, later.

"There's probably something other than slop down there," he said. "Good luck, I'll see you later." Sakura nodded back.

"Thanks," she replied, and departed the bridge, heading toward the command ship's mess hall.

"Oh, and someone run the numbers, I wanna know just how badly the small human and those lion ships hit us before the robeast took over," Yurak added. A few officers immediately began work on compiling a full after battle report for him to add to his own.

"So, Sakura, what _were_ you thinking those lions were part of?" Spinner asked his mistress from her shoulder as they headed down the hall.

"Hm?" she blinked. "Oh, that. It doesn't matter now," she shrugged it off, then smirked lightly. "Seriously, if they _had_ been part of him, you'd think they'd have done more damage to the robeast before they lost, right?"

"It would really help if I knew what you were talking about," Spinner admitted, hoping she would finally tell him what she thought the lions were part of.

"Forget about it; food!" Sakura declared, reaching the mess hall and aiming for the dispensary area. Spinner finally sighed in defeat, making a mental note to ask Haggar what the mystery was all about, because, frankly, he was starting to get a little annoyed at his mistress's dodging of the subject.

The report was put together in relative good time, and the loss report came in as well – eighteen Star Cutters, nine Skull Tanks, and nearly seventy soldiers all told had been lost in the battle, roughly fifteen soldiers to the small human alone! Yurak felt more certain that his career, and his life, would be forfeit the moment he sent the report, but also knew that if he didn't send it someone else would. He transmitted it off to planet Galra, and quietly prayed for both his own survival, and, though he wasn't sure why he cared to do so, Sakura's good fortune after Zarkon blew his top and had him killed.

Meanwhile, Sakura restored her blood sugar levels with an almost decent meal in the mess hall, and then hit the ship's officer's lounge to drop onto a couch and grab some rest after an unexpectedly exciting day, the most exciting she could remember having in years! Her mind was still occupied, though, by the existence of the four lions. Just what were they, where had they come from, and despite their performance against the robeast, could they still be parts of...him?

Spinner also took in a quick bite to eat, and joined his mistress in the lounge for some rest. Unlike Sakura, Spinner simply opted to curl up on a foot stool and take a nap.

Outside the ship, a small sand storm whipped up, forcing the command ship to stay in the air until it was over, lest it get buried, or at least partially, in the desert sands. The lions and robeast were not so lucky, disappearing beneath the expanse of the desert floor. The robeast was of little concern to the Galran forces, though; it was equipped with an implanted tracking device, so they could find it whenever they needed to, and it was currently in a state of suspended animation, thus eliminating any worries of the creature suffocating to death before it was reawakened, if such an act was even required before returning to Galra.

Unbeknownst to the evil forces, and luckily for the lions, the small Pidge had in fact survived the attempt at burying him alive under rock, pulled to safety into an underground cave by Arusian natives at the last second, and at that very moment was being lead through an underground tunnel back to the Castle of Lions. The Arusian night fell, and all remained quiet...

On planet Galra, Zarkon received the report, and while none too pleased about the loss of men and machinery, was satisfied that the belatedly sent robeast had handled the problem quickly and efficiently, and thus decided to be in a "forgiving" mood, for now. He was much more interested in where those lions had come from in the first place.

"Haggar," Zarkon spoke aloud, standing in front of his throne in thought. "How is it possible that a planet I wiped out fifteen years ago could send these space lions out to attack my forces? Tell me, witch, with your sorceress sight, how such a technological marvel went unnoticed back then?"

"Yes, sire, very good questions," Haggar replied. "I would surmise that the people of Arus were unaware of the lions' existence back then, or were simply unable to deploy them at that time. My dear apprentice even thought for a fleeting moment when we last spoke that these lions may even be part of a greater whole, but if my research into the particular historical titan in question is even remotely correct, then a piece is in fact still missing, hence the robeast's success." She sat in her usual seat on the raised dais, stroking her familiar Cova in her lap.

"So you're telling me some Arusian scum we overlooked back then has learned about and/or figured out how to deploy these lions since then? And that there's a fifth one still waiting to be unleashed?" Zarkon growled. Cova gave an irritated yowl, the feline sensing the same foreboding as his mistress. "That cat has more brains than you!" Zarkon snapped, his frustrations beginning to raise anew.

"Cova merely senses, as I do, a dark shadow looming in the path of the empire," Haggar said. "Sire, I fear that the lions' appearance so soon after the five humans who escaped us reached Arus cannot be a coincidence. If I and Sakura are indeed right about these lions, then in their complete form they may be semi-autonomous, but as separate lions this is less likely. No, I believe those lions may in fact also be ships, and as such, require...pilots."

"WHAT?" Zarkon roared.

"Yes, I believe the humans survived, and were given access to these lions by Arusians that still live, and if they somehow managed to survive the fight with the robeast, and manage to find their missing friend should he still live, and gain the fifth and final lion, an ancient titan might rise again."

"_If_ they survived the battle, _if_ the one who attacked alone escaped alive, _if_ they find this fifth lion," Zarkon growled. "A lot of 'ifs', Haggar. And what do you and that sniveling little witch wannabe think these lions _might_ be part of? Tell me!" Haggar looked him evenly in the eyes, and told him exactly what he _didn't_ want to hear:

"Voltron," she said simply. "Sadly, I can divine nothing more at present, and even that is at best an educated guess, as I have said."

"Voltron?" Zarkon's eyes widened, his mind conjuring the fairy tale he once heard as a boy long ago, and had heard again during his youth as a soldier, spoken over a campfire mockingly due to the soldiers having heard some recently captured prisoners muttering about it returning to save the galaxy, if not the universe, from evil. "You think that story is actually true?" His mind raced, and a decision was made, Zarkon thrusting his scepter out in front him. "Send word to Yurak, he is to search Arus thoroughly, and destroy anyone he finds to make sure none can attack us from that planet again! He is to leave absolutely nothing, understand! And if he does discover those escaped humans still daring to cheat death, then he is to bring me back their heads, and nothing else!"

"Sire," Haggar acknowledged the order, and rose from her seat to fulfill it, carrying Cova with her in her arms.

Yurak received his orders within twenty minutes, and while relieved Zarkon was not ordering his death, quickly moved to get Zarkon's order carried out. The sandstorm had passed, and the command ship had landed once again, searchlights lighting the area as troops moved about and Star Cutters ran perimeter patrols in the air.

"To all imperial forces, the operation is to begin the moment the sun comes up!" Yurak bellowed over the ship's intercom and external loudspeakers, all hearing the commands. "You are to search the planet Arus thoroughly, and slaughter anyone who would dare to oppose the mighty Galra Empire! None are to be left alive! And keep an eye out for those space lions, in case the robeast didn't destroy them as thoroughly as we originally thought!" He sat back in his command seat, taking a breath. He glanced to his side as the personnel on the bridge worked to carry out their duties, and noticed the space was empty. "Where's Sakura?" he asked himself aloud.

"I believe I saw her resting in the officer's lounge, sir," answered one officer who thought he'd been addressed. Yurak glanced at him for a moment, then nodded and rose from his seat.

"Make sure everything gets ready," he ordered. "Remember, we begin at first light!"

"Yes, sir!" the officer replied with a quick salute, and returned to work. Yurak strolled off the bridge, and headed over to the lounge. He'd gotten a quick meal of his own earlier, and had returned straight to the bridge at the time, but now a quick spot of rest in the lounge sounded like a good idea to him, too. Upon entering he saw that Spinner was still asleep on his stool, and his mistress was equally dead to the world on a couch. He watched her for a moment as her chest slowly rose and fell with her quiet breathing, pondering his own actions in regards to her.

Ten years ago, he knew he wouldn't have glanced twice at a human child for any reason. They were of no importance or interest to him in the slightest. When Haggar had brought this one into the castle, claiming her as her apprentice, he had accepted it; of everyone who lived in the castle, only King Zarkon would ever counter the old witch on anything. And still, other than to include her in his list of known authorized personnel in Castle Doom, again he considered her of little to interest to him, and important only in that she "belonged" to Haggar.

And yet, as the years had passed, this one little human had actually managed to befriend him, always meeting him with a smile and an air of happiness, and even after years of indoctrination of the Galran philosophy, of Haggar's no doubt dark teachings, Sakura still somehow retained an aura of kindness that was arguably at odds with the darkness of her education. Somehow, she had actually become more important than just because of her relationship to Haggar, and had become interesting in a way he could not readily explain. Nor could he even begin to explain how or even why this had happened at all.

He stepped forward, taking off his red cape and draping it over the slumbering child like a blanket, then took a seat in a chair opposite, watching her as she rolled slightly in her sleep. He reflected on how he had grabbed her in the panicked run from the space lions earlier that day without even realizing it. He knew that once, years ago, he'd have abandoned her in the same situation, and most likely would have suffered Haggar's wrath for it. And yet, now, he hadn't even stopped to think about it as he grabbed her. And he couldn't honestly say that it was because of any fear of what Haggar might or might not have done.

He knew he wasn't getting soft, he still thought nothing of killing his enemies and those of the empire, and even less of torturing and killing the slaves that were taken to serve him and his people, the children included. So why? Why did this one little human girl cause him to do things so...out of character for him? It wasn't like she was his, and it wasn't like he had any true responsibility to her, save his oath to get her back to Haggar in one piece. And why had he sworn that? At the time he hadn't thought about it, but now that he was stopping to do so, he realized he had had no reason to, and yet he had done it.

Yurak leaned back into his chair, letting out a quiet sigh, closing his eye and switching off his cybernetic one. These musing were going to drive him to distraction, he realized. Best to let it go for now. He could always figure it out later, once the situation at hand had reached a conclusion. He allowed himself to rest and relax after the arduous day, letting all of the stress ease out of him, and didn't even notice when he, too, fell asleep.

The hours passed, and just before dawn, the sand of the desert floor stirred, and then erupted in four places as the four lions blasted out of the sand and flew away into the air, back towards the castle and their hidden lairs. A watch officer noted the incident and put it down in the ship's log, choosing not to disturb Commander Yurak just yet as the lions had fled in retreat rather than renew their previous attack. Besides, he reasoned, the Commander was probably catching some quick sleep so as to be fresh and ready for the operation tomorrow.

A few more hours passed, and dawn broke on the Arusian desert. In the command ship, Yurak woke to the sound of someone tapping nearby, and turned to see a soldier at the lounge door, lightly knocking on the frame.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Morning, sir, dawn has arrived," the soldier reported. "All are ready to begin the operation, as ordered." Yurak quickly shook off the remnants of sleep and rose to his feet.

"Excellent, we will begin immediately," he stated, when their attention was drawn by a gasp from Sakura, who had just woken up herself, jumping up to a sitting position, as if startled by something. "Something wrong, Little Witch?" Sakura glanced over to him, as if only just realizing he was in the room. Spinner also began to stir from his sleep with a simple, "Hm?"

"I think it was one of my prophetic dreams," Sakura admitted.

"Prophetic dreams?" Yurak asked, having heard rumor of her having such things in the castle, but till now had not paid witness, not that there had been much to see.

"What did you see?" Spinner asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Like usual it was...unclear, and dark... I saw some kind of being in shadow, holding a sword that reflected the brightest light, looming over Galra and all our ships, and I felt scared, yet...warmed, all at once."

"What does that mean?" Yurak inquired, unable to decipher the dream in the slightest.

"I think...it's an omen," Sakura said, rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes. "And it feels...foreboding..."

"Hm," Yurak thought for a moment, then turned to the soldier who had come to fetch him, and had stayed and heard all. "Get the word out, everyone is to keep alert, a new enemy may be looming on the horizon that we haven't seen yet."

"Sir?" the soldier asked.

"Never question the foresight of a witch, young or old, no matter what form it chooses to take," Yurak stated. "That's why Zarkon keeps her and her master around. Now go! I'll be on the bridge presently."

"Sir!" the soldier snapped to attention, saluted, and quickly departed to tend to his duties. Yurak turned back to Sakura, who was noticing the red cape sitting over her legs, the top lightly crumpled in her lap.

"Um?" she pointed at it, and Yurak stepped forward and retrieved it, returning it to his shoulders.

"You looked a little cold," Yurak offhandedly explained as he secured the cape to his uniform, and when she continued to stare at him confused, he added, "I don't really know, okay?"

"Okay," Sakura accepted, and got to her feet, stretching before raising one hand to summon her staff back to her from the floor. Spinner flew up to her shoulder and they all left the lounge. They moved quickly to the bridge, where a soldier had set up a quick breakfast for them near Yurak's command chair, which they quickly partook of as Yurak had the ship returned to the air for the coming operation.

"We are to scour the entire planet!" Yurak stated. "By order of King Zarkon himself, you are to kill every living thing on Arus, so that none may attack us from this planet again! Kill everyone!"

"Yes, sir!" the bridge crew chimed, as did a thousand voices over the communications system from the Star Cutters around them.

"The whole planet?" Sakura asked. "Guess he didn't like the report."

"Could have been worse," Yurak commented, and Sakura could only nod at that.

The command ship and Star Cutters flew across the planet's surface, seeking their prey. Some Arusians began to emerge from the caves to seek food for breakfasts of their own, only to be fired upon from above, sending them into a panicked flight back into the caves. One Star Cutter fired straight into one of the caves itself, a fiery blast erupting backwards out of the cave a moment later. The frightened people who survived the first volleys ran deeper in, moving through the tunnels toward the castle, even as the Galran ships continued to fire relentlessly against everything in their path, destroying mountains and more as they went.

From their position on the bridge, Yurak and Sakura watched all calmly and without a hint of concern for those below.

"Should we wake the robeast?" Spinner inquired.

"No," Yurak replied. "We won't need him for this."

"Eh?" an officer blinked at his console. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Yurak asked, getting an unpleasant tingling sensation up his spine.

"Some kind of odd energy reading just popped up on the scanner, sir, from near the old castle," the officer reported.

"The castle?" Yurak and Sakura blinked, and even Spinner was starting to get a nervous little chill.

And what, pray tell, was happening at the castle at that moment, one might ask? The four lions were being re-deployed, but this time would be different, for at that very moment the lion statue on the tall pedestal at the end of the bridge cracked, then shattered away, revealing the fifth mighty lion hidden within, it's red "wings" folding onto its back as it roared with life again. It quickly joined its brothers, and marched forwards against the Galran fleet.

"Huh? What's this?" Yurak blinked at the main screen as a dust storm suddenly formed ahead of them, and moved in their direction. "Magnify!" he ordered, and the command was immediately obeyed, revealing the lions returning for another round. They were all there – red, yellow, blue, green – but now they had a new companion. "Those lions again? They survived? They must have nine lives." Yurak mused.

"Oh, yes, the sensors monitored the four blasting out of the sand and retreating a few hours ago, sir," the officer who had noted the incident in question reported. "I noted it in the ship's log."

"WHAT?" Yurak snapped. "Why wasn't I told immediately?"

"Well, you were resting, sir," the officer stumbled. "And like I said, they retreated."

"None the less, I should have been told then they were still alive!" Yurak roared, the officer suddenly seeing a violent end to his career in the near future.

"Or functioning, at least," Sakura agreed. Yurak glanced at her, and added, "Well, they are machines."

"Hm, good point," Yurak conceded, then turned back to the problem at hand. Sakura looked, too, and realized something.

"Wait, there's five of them now," she commented, noting at the head of the small pride a far larger lion, this one black with folded red "wings" on its back and, from what she could see, a clearly bright red blaze, if one could call it that, on its chest.

"So?" Yurak and Spinner asked.

"So, where did number five come from?" she asked back. "And won't it make things harder? I mean, we had enough trouble with just the first four!"

"One more won't make that much difference, not to the robeast!" Yurak declared, smacking the button on his console to send the order to have the creature revived. "And this time, robeast, tear them to shreds! Finish them off completely!" he ordered. Sakura stared at the lions some more, a distinct chill traveling all the way up her spine.

"Can it be...?" she whispered to herself. "Is it really him...?"

Outside, a beam blasted the spot where the robeast was sleeping, and it awoke, bursting from the sands instantly as the command ship and Star Cutters backed off to let it do its work. It roared, and a large sword was blasted out of the command ship's hold, – it was not uncommon for Galran command and war ships to have giant melee weapons on hand for use by giantized robeasts as needed – landing near the beast, which grabbed the blade by the hilt with one hand, lifting it up.

The five lions didn't even hesitate, moving immediately into the fray. The robeast roared at his opponents, and the lions leapt through the air, ramming the robeast in the torso headfirst multiple times; they bounced off each time, the robeast not even fazed. The robeast stomped forward, and the black lion charge again, leaping forward and this time clamping its mighty jaws on the robeast's arm, drawing blood. The robeast shook it off almost immediately, sending it flying back into a rock face, which crumbled under the lion's weight.

"Heh, see," Yurak said, grinning at the sight on screen. "One more hasn't changed a thing!"

"He does seem to be right, Sakura," Spinner agreed. "The robeast is clearly winning." He glanced away from the screen to look at his mistress, noticing for the first time the frozen look of fear on her face. "Sakura?"

"Were they really here, all this time...?" she whispered. "Will they...combine...?"

"Huh?" Yurak and Spinner both stared at her at that comment. "Combine?"

The blue, green, and yellow lions charged and leapt at the robeast again, but the robeast just backhanded and punched them aside. The black lion rebounded, red on his heels. Black leapt again through the air, and this time the robeast snapped a hand out, grabbing the lion by the throat, and kicked red lion back on reflex. The robeast roared, swinging black lion around by its neck, before tossing it, hard, straight into the recovering red lion, knocking them both down.

The robeast charged, brandishing its sword above its head, and swung at the two lions, the lions barely dodging aside in time, the robeast only chopping off a hunk of rock from the rocky formation that had been behind the lions. The robeast blinked only a moment, then roared and stomped toward the two lions again, stabbing at the red lion with its sword; again, the lion barely dodged, but at this point the lions apparently came to a decision.

The pulled back, then charge forward in a different direction, leaping straight into the air in formation, flying high into the sky. The robeast saw them, roared again, and fired several blasts of burning plasma from the gauntlets on its wrists. The flames nailed the lions, causing them to fall from the sky back into the desert sand below.

"Yeah, that's the way!" Yurak smiled excitedly. "See? Nothing to worry about!" He glanced back to Sakura, who was still staring, frozen; her expression still filled with fear. 'She's that worried about those cats?' he wondered. He could only recall ever seeing her that scared once before, the first time she was introduced to the court and had to stand so close to Zarkon; but she had long since learned to handle her feelings about that. So why was this bothering her so much?

"He's right Sakura, it's okay," Spinner tried to reassure his mistress. "The robeast will take care of them." But this time Sakura didn't respond.

The lions shook off their daze, and again leapt into the air, aiming high into the sky. Again the robeast fired its gauntlet plasma blasts, and again scored direct hits. But this time the lions had expected that, and held their flight, riding the burning plasma out, and flew ever higher. The robeast fired again, but this time the plasma bursts missed, the lions now simply too high to reach.

"IT **IS** HIM!" Sakura screamed, snapping out of her daze suddenly, turning to the bridge crew. "Shoot them down! Don't let them combine into Voltron!" Yurak's and Spinner's eyes widened in shock at her exclamation.

"VOLTRON?" they snapped, a little more shrieking than they meant, and the rest of the bridge crew stared similarly.

"Voltron?" they echoed, feeling more than a little confused. And then, before Sakura could snap at them a second time, a blinding flash of light erupted from the screen as the five lions came together as one.

Within the blaze of light, the red, green, blue, and yellow lions' legs folded up into their bodies, and the black lion's forelegs did likewise, its hind legs sticking out straight behind it, its "wings" unfolding to stick out behind the head. The blue and yellow lions' heads then folded backwards until they formed an "L" shape with their bodies, their tails flipping forward to disappear into their torso like their legs did. The black lion flipped around so it looked like it was on its back, and then the red and green lions flew up and their rears connected onto the black lion at its shoulders, followed by the blue and yellow lion snapping onto the black lion's hind legs; red and blue were on the right, green and yellow on the left.

And then the black lion's head tilted forward until it was perpendicular to the body, and its mouth opened until the lower jaw snapped into the lion's torso, revealing a humanoid face, pale white with a blue stripe across its yellow eyes. At the same time the two gold "ears" of the black lion unfolded outward, giving the new robot's head a pair of "horns", or half formed head blocks. It rose its "hands", the heads of the red and green lions, which roared in challenge, its "feet", the heads of the blue and yellow lions, following suit. The robeast could only stare in surprise and wonder as its new combined opponent came down from the sky back to the ground.

The mechanical titan's chest, now visible, was crimson, a crest at the center below the head. The crest was in the shape of a shield, with a cross over a white vertical stripe, a gold crown symbol over said cross. A black stripe sat at the top of the shield, and squares of blue and red sat to the right of the white stripe, yellow and green to the left, the blue and yellow above the red and green. The giant robot even seemed to be wearing a "belt", three gold horizontal stripes on either side of a "buckle", for a total of six, the "buckle" being a large gold star against a white background inside of a gold frame. It stood, strong, proud, and tall.

After twelve thousand years, Voltron had been reborn!

"It...it's really him..." Sakura stared in shock. "They restored Voltron..."

"That's Voltron?" Yurak asked, unsure of the sudden turn of events. Spinner stayed quiet, now thoroughly riveted to the screen, as were the rest of bridge crew.

The robeast roared and rose its sword up in challenge at its new opponent, charging forward to continue the battle. It swung its sword in a horizontal slash that the robot dodged easily, then the robeast tried to simply stab the robot, but Voltron dodged again. The robeast went for a downward slash, and this time Voltron caught its arm with his left hand, and judo flipped the robeast into the sand where it expertly caught itself and rolled back into a sitting position, grabbing the tubes on either side of its waist and firing four rockets from them at Voltron, the robeast's sword landing tip first in the sand next to it. The rockets hit dead on...and did nothing.

Furious, the robeast got to its feet and fired another volley of plasma blasts from its gauntlets. For a moment, Voltron lit up in flame, and then went out again, the mighty robot still undamaged. The robeast grabbed its sword back up, roaring in defiance, but things were already obvious – the situation had completely reversed!

As if to punch that point home further, Voltron rose into the sky, its hands and feet roaring at the robeast, and then the hands clanged together, pulling apart a second later, energy filling them and solidifying into a mighty blade of Voltron's own, the robot pulling back slightly with the sword in its right hand, sending a roared challenge at its opponent one last time from its left.

"What...what happened?" Yurak stared aghast at the turn of events, the robeast suddenly clearly outmatched. And the sudden creation of the new blade did not help matters.

"Wow, he really lives up to his press, doesn't he?" Spinner commented, also in shock at how things had turned around for the enemy in mere moments.

"Is that...yes, it has to be...the Blazing Sword!" Sakura stared, noting that Voltron's challenging stance with sword in hand was _exactly_ like the mysterious silhouette in her dream. "Yurak, I think we should start getting out of here!" she turned to the Commander.

"What? But the robeast..." he commented, still not convinced the battle was lost, though he had to admit to himself he was getting there.

"It's toast! Just get us out of here!" Sakura snapped.

"Uh, guys, he's charging the robeast," Spinner said, drawing their attention back to the main screen and the battle in progress.

The robeast roared one last time, undaunted, and charged, aiming to try and stab Voltron once more. Voltron charged back, swinging its sword upward to deflect the robeast's blade, jumping into the air as it went. Voltron flipped around and dropped, swinging his sword downward, and chopped the robeast's blade in half, slashing the robeast deeply in the process, right down the center from head to hip. Voltron then pulled back, and made one last downward slash, cleaving the robeast in two!

The robeast exploded apart into nothing, and Voltron stood in the blaring sunlight, triumphant!

"Unbelievable...All hands, retreat immediately!" Yurak screamed the order, the bridge crew instantly obeying. The command ship and Star Cutters quickly turned and blasted back into space, on a return course to planet Galra. "How?" Yurak flopped into his seat. "How?"

"I can't believe it," Sakura whispered quietly, having flopped herself to her knees on the floor, her energy having abandoned her in the wake of the defeat. "All this time, right under our nose..."

"You do realize what this means, don't you?" Spinner asked, trying to stay calm.

"Yeah," Yurak and Sakura replied, then stated dourly, "Zarkon's gonna kill us."

And as the Galran ship fled for space, one could have sworn they could hear five human voices joined together in a triumphant cheer, just one word:

"VOLTRON!"

* * *

Ah, ha! Finished, episodes three and four are reduxed! That actually was a little more challenging than I first expected, but I like what I got. Especially the bridge I created between eps. to explain why the first four lions weren't smashed by the robeast outright when it had the chance, something the anime writers badly overlooked. And yes, I know, the boys are still not yet aware of Sakura's existence, at least not fully, but fear not, that time is coming, and soon.

Next, how to make a new, not trashed castle! Hehe...

Scorpinac

LotornoMiko – As to punishment for failing to get them back, you'll just have to wait until next chapter for that answer. As to her interest in Pidge, I'm basically going for a standard kid's crush along the lines of "You! The sultry wretch with the fire in his eyes! Come hither!" This will hopefully be made more clear when I get to the Queen Orla episode...

drake202 – I'm happy I've impressed you, and hope you found Sakura's reaction to the lions and Voltron satisfactory. At present there are no definitive plans for Sakura to be captured/saved and turned to good, though; I'm definitely keeping her on Team Evil til the end of the Omega Comet trilogy(I got plans for that!), and afterward I'm not fully sure myself. In the end it'll mostly depend on whether I decide to include the events of the twenty episodes made specifically for our side of the Pacific pond(and therefor the "Fleet Of Doom" special) or not. Don't worry, I'll make up my mind...eventually...


	6. The Castle Restored

Chapter 6: The Castle Restored

They returned to Galra quickly, and Spinner immediately booked for their private quarters, not wanting to be anywhere _near_ Zarkon when he found out how badly it had gone. Yurak and Sakura almost timidly returned to the throne room, feeling certain their deaths were imminent. They were met near the throne room by Haggar, who looked almost as pensive as they felt.

"I fear my sense of foreboding has proven more true than I'd wished," Haggar said, clearly reading their faces.

"And my prophetic dream from last night came true faster than I've ever known them to, mama Haggar," Sakura replied, glad for the delay to her almost certain execution.

"You had a prophetic dream again?" Haggar blinked.

"Uh-huh, just last night while we were still on Arus," Sakura said, and quickly described it to her, then told her exactly what happened on Arus, right up to the robeast's "retirement". Haggar stared in shock.

"Show me what he looks like," she barely whispered, but somehow managed to keep audible. Sakura rose her staff again, this time creating an illusion of Voltron himself. "Incredible... And to think, he was that close all this time..."

"How's Zarkon?" Yurak interjected, wanting to get an idea of just how bad his death was going to be. Haggar blinked, looking up at him.

"Uh, well..." she paused, not sure quite how to answer that question, when the answer came for her, loud and clear:

"HAGGAR! ARE THEY HERE YET?!" Zarkon's voice boomed from inside.

"We're so dead..." Sakura moaned, and the three turned and entered the throne room. 

"WHAT?!" Zarkon boomed, rose to his feet, and dashed down the steps from his throne to the main floor of the room. "Voltron was discovered, and restored, by the enemy?!" Before him, Haggar and Yurak were kneeling on the floor on their knees, their hands palm down on the floor in front of them. They bravely had their heads held up to face their King, and Cova sat in front of his mistress, head bowed before the angry tyrant.

Sakura, on the other hand, while also on her knees, had her head pressed against the floor between her hands, simply too terrified to look up at the dark lord of the empire, and fervently wishing he'd just kill them and get it over with!

"I'm afraid so, Sire," Yurak was the first to find his tongue. "I've gone over it in my mind again and again, and I still can't see how it could have ended differently." He glanced at Sakura. "Sakura recommended shooting down the lions when they launched into the air to combine, but I fear we reacted too slowly, and I simply can't see us doing otherwise." Yurak and Haggar then bowed their own heads in apology for the fiasco, having already told Zarkon the full story. Cova quickly turned and hid himself in Haggar's drooping robes, deciding then that he wished he'd followed Spinner back to their private quarters to hide in more certain safety.

"She 'recommended'?" Zarkon growled, then turned on Sakura. "And just why didn't you 'recommend' this sooner?!"

"Because it wasn't until then that I felt absolutely certain it was him, Sire," Sakura explained. "I swear, if I'd been certain sooner I would have screamed for additional firepower against the lions much earlier." She never looked up, still too afraid to look Zarkon in the face.

"Hmph, you call that an excuse?!" Zarkon grumbled.

"Sire, I would like to say that _I_ would most likely not have made the recommendation until I was absolutely certain, either, and probably in the end no sooner than my apprentice actually did," Haggar interjected. "Please, try to calm yourself."

"CALM MYSELF?!" Zarkon roared. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, ALL OF YOU!" Sakura speedily accepted the order, jumping to her feet and dashing out as fast she could, Haggar and Yurak not far behind, Haggar grabbing up Cova as she went. 

The next thing Sakura was truly cognizant of was popping into her and Haggar's personal lab, slapping the door closed behind her, and leaning against it to catch her breath. She couldn't remember ever running in fear like that before, if she ever had.

"Hm?" a small female voice sounded from the far side of the table, and Sakura glanced to see her personal slave on the floor, having paused in the middle of scrubbing said floor at her mistress's arrival. The girl was about her age, but slightly more slender from infrequent feeding, yet her arms were, in contradiction, mildly muscled from years of near constant labor, and she wore a set of rags that amounted to a dirt brown bag going from her shoulders to her knees, her small feet left bare. Her hair was brown, unruly from rarely being cleaned and cut raggedly at the shoulders, presumably by herself in a quiet moment alone at some point. Her eyes were a chocolate brown, sitting behind wire frame glasses.

The glasses had been a "gift" of sorts. When Sakura had first found the girl, her eyes had only begun to fail and be a liability for her in the mine pits. Two "friends" had been covering for her, and when Sakura had discovered the ruse, rather than simply sending the visually challenged child off to be immediately slain and turned into robeast food, she had claimed her, "gifting" her with the glasses and putting her to work helping keep the lab, and more importantly her bedroom, clean and tidy. Right now, though, Sakura really wasn't in the mood to think about the slave.

"Yes?" she asked, the slave girl cringing slightly at her annoyed tone.

"Is...is something...wrong...my lady?" the girl hesitantly asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Sakura's eyes narrowed angrily.

"You're still alive?" Spinner floated around the connecting door to their personal room.

"Yeah, for the moment," Sakura acknowledged her familiar, her mood lightening a little. "But he's pretty pissed off."

"I'm not surprised," Spinner said. "He can't have liked hearing that the enemy on Arus dug up and restored Voltron."

"Voltron?!" the slave girl's eyes became plates. "Someone found Voltron?!" Sakura growled.

"Yes, Naoko, they found him," Spinner confirmed. "And used him to make mincemeat out of a robeast in nothing flat."

"He killed a robeast?" Naoko almost couldn't believe her ears, it was too good to be true!

"Put a cork in it, and get back to work!" Sakura barked at her, then blinked, stepping away from the door and moving over to the girl. Naoko shivered in fear as she pulled backwards slightly, but Sakura came up and sniffed the air around her.

"That's what I thought, you don't smell," Sakura again narrowed her eyes at Naoko, this time accusingly. "And you don't have as much dirt on you as when I last looked. Did you sneak into our bath?"

"No, no, it was the regular slave's bathing night last night, and I thought you and Lady Haggar would appreciate it if I didn't distract you by smelling bad," Naoko quickly offered in explanation. "I swear, I haven't gone anywhere near your and Lady Haggar's personal bath!"

"Hm," Sakura pondered. "And if I check with the guards and slave masters?"

"They'll confirm, they'll confirm!" Naoko shrieked.

"Oh, do calm down, a guard told me she went in for cleansing on my way to relay your and Yurak's follow up orders," Haggar said as she entered the room, dropping Cova from her arms to the nearest table. Cova looked more than a little shaken up, and Spinner floated over to him.

"Didn't get away while you had the chance, huh?" he asked his fellow familiar. Cova just yowled at him. "Hey, don't go blaming me, Cova," Spinner quipped.

"So you're sure she didn't use our private bath, mama Haggar?" Sakura inquired.

"If she did, we'll know when we get the monthly water bill next week," Haggar dismissed the subject as she went to her recliner and took a seat. "Now I think I should make sure you haven't missed any steps while you were away, so I want you to make a Grenalious Potion."

"Sure, that's easy," Sakura said, then glanced at Naoko. "Shouldn't you be cleaning?"

"Yes, ma'am, right away, ma'am!" Naoko replied, and immediately resumed scrubbing the floor while Sakura smirked and took a seat at one of the lab tables, setting her staff aside and gathering some of the ingredients laid out before her to complete her assigned test.

While she worked, though, something occurred to her, something troubling. When Naoko had reacted to the news about Voltron's return, her eyes had filled with something they'd never held before – hope. 

It took little time, the crew of the command ship having not been told to keep it quiet, and soon the knowledge of Voltron's return spread like wildfire. There were few Galrans who _weren't_ talking about it! In the halls of the castle, in the mess hall, out in the fields, in the cities beyond, everywhere it was discussed and muttered about, the citizens and troops alike wondering what this meant.

And it wasn't just them, for slaves have ears, too, and like Sakura and Spinner did in front of Naoko, so did other Galrans talk in front of other slaves, and soon the story of Voltron's return was being whispered and spread among them as well, along with the rumors of the five human space explorers who had actually succeeded in escaping from Zarkon, and were now believed to be the ones who brought Voltron back.

"Voltron's back? There's hope!"

"He was on Arus?"

"Who put him back together again?"

"They say it was the five earthlings who escaped."

"Maybe he'll come back for us!"

"The earthlings saw us when we were here, there's a chance!"

"But the Galrans have hundreds, no, thousands of robeasts!"

"Can Voltron possibly beat enough of them to get through?"

And on it went, until finally some of the guards had to whip and beat some of the slaves to get them to remember they were still obligated to work for the privilege of continuing to live. Not that the guards and palace nobility were any better on the gossip front.

"I thought we wiped out Arus years ago."

"Someone must have slipped away somehow."

"Someone really survived being attacked by our empire?"

"If Arus had Voltron, why didn't they use it ages ago?"

"They must have been hiding the robot, and helped the earthlings!"

"What do you suppose the King will do about it?"

Even amongst the slave children it was the hot topic. A group of children were working hard, shoveling rocks into a mine car to be removed elsewhere, and chattered excitedly as they worked.

"Did you hear, Rika?" a human girl with light brown hair tied off in two pony tails and light brown eyes asked. "They're saying those humans who escaped found a giant robot and beat a robeast to death!"

"I know, Chiharu," her friend, another human girl with darker brown hair and eyes replied. "They're saying it was a Voltron robot."

"What's a Voltron?" a reptilian boy asked, echoing the question on all their minds.

"I think it's some kind of new technology thing," a blue skinned, three eyed girl stated.

"No, no, he was created hundreds of years ago," a human boy with light black hair and black eyes stated as he lifted a larger rock with his hands into the cart.

"You making up another story, Yamazaki?" an orange skinned boy asked.

"Nope, this one was told to me by a guy in the mines," Yamazaki answered. "He told me that a buncha super brains made a robot called Voltron over a thousand years ago as an experiment, and that they were gonna make a whole army of Voltrons to enforce their version of law and order on the whole universe, but then the first Voltron judged them to be in violation of those same laws, so Voltron took them out in accordance to his program and starting going about judging everyone he ran into until he met a cult of warlocks who were less than impressed with his judgments, so they pooled their power and smashed him into five pieces and buried him on the nearest planet to get rid of him cause he was too powerful to destroy completely, and it took almost all of the power they did have just to break him up!" Yamazaki gasped a couple of times as he caught his breath.

"Try going a little slower next time, dude," the reptile boy said.

"Sorry, Mekiol, got caught up in it," Yamazaki apologized.

"And just who told you all that?" Chiharu asked.

"Some guy in the mine with greyish hair and wire frame glasses," Yamazaki said.

"If he is real, I hope Voltron comes here and kills that evil human witch girl who killed poor Naoko!" the blue skinned girl chimed.

"Yeah, me, too, Gaquia," Rika agreed. "I hope he steps on her!"

"It wasn't Naoko's fault her eyes went bad on her," the orange skinned boy commented.

"Yeah, I know, Kurven," Yamazaki stated. "They could have just given her glasses or something." They jumped at the sound of a larger footstep approaching them. They turned to see a Galran foot soldier approaching them, whip in hand.

"Silence!" he roared, and snapped the whip, nailing Yamazaki across the shoulder. The other children let out a slight squeal, then quickly returned to their work. 

Eventually, the gossip got so bad, that a guard came to Yurak to discuss the implications, who immediately went to report it to Zarkon. It had been a few days since the first disastrous battles on Arus, and Zarkon had fortunately calmed down a bit.

"Sire, a disturbing thought has quickly taken root among the vermin slaves," he told Zarkon in the throne room. "If we ignore it too long there's no telling what they might try."

"I won't have it," Zarkon growled. "This is all because of those damned human space explorers! I won't let them get away with this!" He snapped to his feet, his hand shaking in anger as he gripped his scepter. "I'll show them what happens when someone defies my will! We'll send a stronger robeast, and this time we'll smash that robot into scrap metal!"

"Um, sire?" Sakura somehow found her voice from her usual place at Haggar's side, and he turned to look at her with a glower. "Considering how easy Voltron took out the last robeast, are you sure we even have one that has the power to do that?"

"I must agree, sire," Haggar stated. "Send the strongest of the robeasts into the arena, and let them battle until only one remains, and then give me the winner and I will work my blackest magics to enhance him until there is little doubt of him not defeating Voltron!"

Zarkon thought for a moment, then smiled evilly.

"I like it," he said. "It shall be done!" 

The stands were packed to capacity that day, Zarkon, Haggar, Sakura, and Yurak once again in the royal box, as the first four robeasts entered the arena, and clashed their blades against one another. The battle was brutal, and soon two robeasts lay dead in pools of their own blood, the last two taking a flying leap at one another. The brown one left himself open, badly, and the grey skinned cyclops was quick to take advantage, his sword all but tearing his opponent's guts free of their shell.

"Good riddance!" Zarkon roared from the royal box. "We don't want weaklings! Now, send in the final three challengers!" And, in a burst of inspiration, Zarkon proceeded to sweeten the pot: "The winner shall be declared the ultimate warrior, named a General of the Galra armies, and given his own domain!"

"Wow, that's so...generous of you, sire," Sakura commented from where she stood next to Haggar.

"Whatever fires them up and gets them really going," Zarkon dismissed her observation.

The remaining three challengers charged into the arena, and the grey cyclops engaged them all at once, more bloodshed following rapidly. First one, then another, and finally the last fell to the cyclops's blade, leaving only him alive. The crowd roared in their approval. 

"Robeast, I hereby dub thee Deathhell," Zarkon declared when the robeast was brought before him in the throne room. "Now, away with you to the black tower of occult science to begin your additional enhancements!" The robeast rose, and roared in acknowledgment before being led away.

"Now the fun begins," Haggar agreed. "It shall be done, sire."

"Can I help, ma...Master Haggar?" Sakura asked. "I wanna make sure Voltron is destroyed this time!"

"But of course, my darling," Haggar agreed as she rose from her seat to head out. "Now is a fine time to show you my finest work." The two departed the throne room, heading for the special tower where robeasts were both enhanced and, in many cases, created from various alien beings. Haggar had shown Sakura around the tower once, but had yet to show her how the creation/enhancement process truly worked. With Voltron risen once again, now seemed a good time to Haggar to do so, should she find herself entangled on another project off world while Sakura remained here and Zarkon demanded a fresh robeast.

She lead Sakura to the main control room, and Sakura glanced through the window into the pit below where the robeast Deathhell was having his arms strapped to the two pillars to his sides. She glanced back at the control panel filled with buttons and switches.

"So how do we start, mama Haggar?" she inquired.

"First we must make sure all systems are operating correctly," Haggar stated, and went over the various systems present, Sakura watching with rapt attention, quickly and carefully absorbing every detail. A few moments later Haggar was ready to begin, switching on a microphone so that Deathhell could hear them. "Now we shall burn him with the flames of occult science with the magic crypto ray," Haggar declared, and pressed a button on the console before her, Sakura taking careful note of which one it was, and then staring through the window into the pit below, watching as Deathhell was bombarded with the flame like energy, additional beams of energy all around him.

"The flames are the life of Hell," Haggar intoned. "Withstand them!" A few moments later she hit another button, bringing down lightning-like energy upon the robeast. "The lightning is the energy of the demon! Endure it!" Haggar stated. She then hit another button, and two fans from just below the pedestal Deathhell stood upon began to blow at him.

As Sakura watched, Deathhell's skinned changed from grey to brown, two turret like extensions grew from his chest, with white tubing appearing on his shoulders, and four spikes extended from his cheeks. Finally, two razor sharp blades grew from his thighs, completing the transformation. If anything, Sakura felt Haggar had not only succeeded in making the robeast all but unstoppable, but far more monstrous than before.

"Now, enter the space coffin and be off to planet Arus," Haggar instructed the beast. "Soon you will destroy Voltron, and put an end to this would-be rebellion before it starts!"

"But try to make sure there's enough of him left to play with afterwards so we can try and make our own!" Sakura added, Haggar grinning merrily at the girl's initiative. Deathhell was released from his straps remotely, and entered the waiting black coffin, and was soon taken to be loaded into Yurak's command ship.

"Mama Haggar, may I journey with Yurak to Arus again?" Sakura asked her master. "I dislike leaving a job unfinished, and wish to attempt to finish my previous assignment, and reclaim the five escaped humans."

"All of them, or just the small one?" Haggar asked with a teasing evil smile.

"All five, of course!" Sakura knew she was blushing furiously at the insinuation. "Zarkon still needs to make an example of them!" Haggar cackled merrily for a moment at her apprentice's discomfort, then regained her composure.

"You do realize the five human explorers are most likely the ones piloting the lions that compose Voltron," Haggar pointed out.

"Pilot...? You mean, inside the lions?" Sakura blinked, having not really thought about that before. "But I thought Voltron was..."

"When he's in one piece, yes, but when he's separated, I highly doubt that," Haggar quickly explained. "So depending on how much Deathhell smashes Voltron..." Haggar left the thought hanging, and Sakura thought about it carefully.

"Then I'll just have to bring back whatever he doesn't smush, and hopefully it'll still be identifiable enough for Zarkon," she decided. Haggar cackled again, amused at her apprentice's decision.

"Off with you then, with my evil blessing," she said. "And try not to bungle things this time."

"I won't!" Sakura smiled back. "Thanks, mama Haggar!" And with that she turned around and dashed from the tower to the landing bay, signaling for Spinner and arriving just in time to catch the command ship as it took off, the robeast loaded in the storage bay, ready to go at a moment's notice upon arrival on Arus.

"We're seriously doing this again?" Spinner asked as the headed for the bridge.

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?" Sakura asked him.

"Just seems like we're repeating ourselves a little, that's all," he replied as they arrived at the bridge, the ship already clearing orbit and on course for Arus.

"Sakura?" Yurak blinked to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I've joined on my own with Master Haggar's approval, Commander Yurak," she replied. "I wish to do what I can to aid in the destruction of Voltron and the recapture of the escaped humans." Yurak just stared for a moment, then shrugged.

"What the hell, you're already here," he decided, then turned to the bridge crew. "Onward to planet Arus!" he ordered, and the crew responded instantly, Sakura taking her place next Yurak.

"And this time, victory!" she added for morale, the crew cheering in agreement, and Yurak smiling as well. 

Meanwhile, on Arus, the human explorers with their new allies, the crown Princess and her royal military adviser, had put up a space communications antenna, for the dual purpose of sending a broadcast for help from neighboring friendly planets against the Galra Empire, and also so the small group of refugees could send a message back to Galaxy Garrison and the Galaxy Alliance to give them an all important update on their progress and current status. Four of the humans had in fact attempted to acquire aid in their current mission against Zarkon and his minions from the surviving and now cave and forest living Arusians, but met with no success, the Arusians still in great fear of Zarkon and the Galran Empire.

It was while having a discussion next to the newly set up antenna that fate, and Yurak's command ship, paid them a return engagement. 

"Let's see what they've done with the few small days we've allowed them," Yurak grinned as the command ship breached the atmosphere. "Release the Star Cutters!"

At his command, the reinforced fleet of Star Cutters exited the command ship and flew out to begin the initial strike. They flew towards the Castle of Lions, as Yurak had designated it the first target. A reconnaissance probe sent out ahead of them had spied the black lion perched quietly on the now otherwise empty pedestal at the front of the drawbridge to the slowly deteriorating fortress, indicating the place as the most likely launch sight of all the lions, and thus the enemy's current base of operations, such as it was.

They quickly came in range of their target, and opened fire with all weapons, bombarding the already half devastated edifice. One of the first shots nearly hit someone standing out on the balcony, but another shoved the person out of the way in the nick of time, the only casualty at that point being the just-set-up space antenna. The two, along with several others the pilots noted on the balcony with them, then dove inside. Video of all this was sent live to the command ship as it came in from behind the Star Cutters, Yurak and Sakura watching merrily.

"Going inside the castle we're shooting at," Sakura observed. "What, they'd rather be squished by falling bricks than be blasted by death rays from the air?" She shrugged, not understanding the enemy's reasoning in the least, but smiled all the same, not particularly concerned. "I'd think the Star Cutter beams would be a faster and less painful way to go."

"That, or they're hoping to get out of the castle through the front door _before_ we knock it all down," Spinner suggested. "Considering the only other survival option was jumping from the balcony..."

"Heh, million to one shot against, that one," Yurak commented. "Mad dash for the ground floor and the front door's the only chance they really have." The bombardment continued, but a moment later the black lion suddenly rose to its feet, then launched into the air, the blue lion launching from the castle moat, and the others rising into the air from elsewhere across the land to form up with their brothers to face the Galran fleet.

"Or, they were making for the Voltron lions," Spinner stated, Sakura and Yurak just watching impassively.

"Okay, clearly the castle is the enemy staging point," Sakura said. "And we now have a rough idea of the blue one's resting place, but where are the other three hidden when not in use?"

"With luck, it soon won't matter," Yurak stated. Just then a large tube-like cannon materialized on the side of the black lion's shoulder, and fired a single long spear-like projectile that almost instantly destroyed a Star Cutter. The red and green lions formed blade weapons held in their jaws that they sliced through several more Star Cutters with, while the blue lion had a square-shaped, multi-turreted cannon form on its back, the projectiles taking out four more Cutters. Yellow lion then formed yet another jaw held blade, quickly slicing down yet another Star Cutter. In short, it was deja vu all over again, but with more precision and a little more variety of attack.

"Guess they sat down and read their instruction manuals," Yurak observed, rising to his feet.

"Well, we expected at least some losses to those cats," Sakura commented.

"True," Yurak agreed, then turned to the executive officer on deck. "Guirus, deploy Deathhell!"

"Yes, sir!" Guirus replied, turning to the officer seated at the helm. "Launch the monster!"

"Yes, sir!" the officer replied, and pressed a button on his console. 

Outside, the appropriate bay door opened, and the black coffin was ejected. As soon as it hit the ground, the energy of the robeast within crackled, stretching and bending the space coffin considerably, before Deathhell simply tore his way free of it, roaring as he stood to his full monstrous height, then launched himself into the air toward his five opponents.

The lions paused only a moment, then launched multiple missile attacks at the robeast, who weathered them unfettered. Red, green, and yellow then charged forward, attempting another bite and clamp session on Deathhell's limbs. 

"Oh, yes, because that tactic worked _so_ well on the last robeast," Spinner rolled his eyes at the human pilot's apparent lack of variant combat strategy.

"Heh, guess they didn't actually _finish_ those manuals, did they?" Yurak grinned, not at all upset at the idiotic repeat performance the lions were giving.

"And now, just to be mean and tip the scales further, how about a little boost, robeast?" Sakura grinned as she rose her staff and released a burst of of her evil magic, which went right to the monitor and outside the ship.

"Ooh, I like how you think, Witch Sakura," Yurak's smile broadened. 

Outside, the magic energy burst moved to Deathhell and bathed him, energizing him further, and he shook the three pesky lions off like so many annoying flies. 

"What was that energy beam?" the blue lion pilot, Sven, asked.

"I don't know, but that monster seems to be even stronger now than before!" Keith, who was piloting the black lion as was his position as team leader, commented. "It's time to form Voltron, team!"

"Right!" came his team's echo of agreement. 

The lions quickly regrouped and launched higher into the air. This time they were faster and smoother, the option of shooting them down not even really a question, and a moment later Voltron stood before his new opponent, ready for battle, the two facing off in midair. Deathhell reached up to his shoulders and grabbed the two bar like extensions rising from them that Haggar had created, yanking them free to reveal twin scythe swords. Voltron merely made his hands and feet roar in response to the challenge. Deathhell surged forward and swung his blades down, Voltron catching them in his hands.

Deathhell then swung a hard kick with his right foot, Voltron attempting to counter with his own left, and to his surprise, when the two connected, Deathhell's huge toe claws actually smashed through the metal of yellow lion's head, as well as the glass of the cockpit, one claw nearly skewering the large human, Hunk, who piloted it, the man surviving only by dodging aside at the last possible second! 

"Ah, much better!" Sakura smiled at Deathhell's success at finally damaging the enemy titan, though the sight of Deathhell's 'unsheathing' his swords had struck her as painful-looking and a bit creepy even by Haggar's standards.

"Indeed," Yurak agreed. "Now our troops will get some much deserved vengeance!"

"Why do I suddenly feel like saying something about chickens and hatching?" Spinner mused, and the two just gave him an unamused glare. 

Voltron quickly pulled his foot back, and then, capitalizing on his advantage, the knife like blades on Deathhells thighs extended forward to slice into Voltron's waist. This caused Voltron to fall further back, releasing the swords and allowing Deathhell to land a solid kick, sending the robot falling downwards into the canyon laying below them. Voltron plummeted backwards, smashing through a dead tree which ironically caused him to roll back into a forward position, then finally pulled out of the dive, just in time to see Deathhell diving towards him, swords at the ready. The robeast landed and took a slash at Voltron, who managed to dodge, and then formed his own Blazing Sword, having had more than enough of this. 

"Uh, oh!" Sakura gleeped. "Now what?!"

"Now we hope your master did her job right," Yurak growled, not particularly happy that the enemy had managed to pull out its main weapon of choice either. 

Voltron charged in and took a slash of his own, only to be deflected by Deathhell and sent spiraling around and landing on the ground on his back. Quick to take the opening as always, Deathhell slashed downward with his swords in a one-two swing combo, Voltron managing to block Deathhell's left with his own sword while catching Deathhell's right wrist with his hand, the two momentarily deadlocked. But Deathhell pushed forward with his right sword, the blade tip getting perilously close to Voltron's head before the robot managed to push back.

Deathhell pulled back only a moment, which Voltron used to regain his feet, and the two clashed swords again, Deathhell losing his footing in the process and plummeting backward further into the canyon. Voltron dove after, making for a downward slash, only for Deathhell to fire several rockets in rapid succession from his belt buckle, nailing Voltron and causing him to fall backward onto his back yet again while Deathhell landed on his feet.

Voltron quickly regained his feet, but Deathhell was again at an advantage and knew it, pressing forth his attack. 

"Wow, this is going way better than before!" Sakura's smile was from ear to ear.

"Indeed," Yurak agreed, his own smile broad. "We lucked out in that Deathhell really knows his way around swordplay, Voltron can't even get in a blow!"

"So, are we going to help some more?" Spinner asked.

"Do we need to?" Sakura asked him with a slight note of sarcasm in her voice. "I think Deathhell's got this pretty much down."

"Agreed," Yurak decided. "Time for us to focus on the second objective. All hands, raze that castle to the ground!"

"Yes, sir!" a hundred voices both on the bridge and via the intercom replied instantly. 

The command ship immediately turned on the castle, firing everything it had. Walls cracked and crumbled, towers fell, the main door was blasted inward, and parapets collapsed to the ground. The castle had no defense, and would soon be no more. A few shots even penetrated the inside of the castle, decimating the once grand main staircase. In the canyon below, Deathhell lobbed a sword at Voltron, who managed to deflect it into a nearby boulder, then Deathhell swung at him with his other blade, and Voltron managed to parry and disarm his opponent at last. It was then that his pilots noticed the command ship firing in a different direction from him, and launched into the air to see just what Yurak was shooting at.

Upon seeing the castle under attack, Voltron started to fly toward it, desperately hoping to save it and the two still within, but Deathhell launched through the air and landed ahead of him, thrusting his chest towards Voltron and firing twin blasts of energy from his nipple turrets. One shot scored home on the red lion hand, knocking the Blazing Sword from Voltron's grip, the blade falling to the ground and landing tip first in the dirt, while the other blast missed. Voltron quickly recouped, reaching for his blade, but Deathhell fired another volley, forcing Voltron back. Reaching backward with his left hand, he flung it forward, tossing his Spinning Laser Disc, a throwing star-like weapon, which exploded when it hit the ground, Deathhell leaping out of the way a split second ahead of it.

Voltron then launched a missile from his right foot – blue lion's mouth, to be precise – that hit Deathhell square on. The robeast weathered the strike easily, and launched downward, landing a clean kick to Voltron's head, knocking him to the ground on his back. Voltron quickly regained his feet, and made a running break for the castle. 

"We have to get back to the castle!" Keith screamed, his voice tense. "Hurry!" 

Unfortunately, Deathhell took the opening and jumped Voltron from behind, grabbing him in a bear hug, and slamming one fist into Voltron's side, leaving a sizable dent. Voltron countered and judo flipped him over his shoulder before dashing over to finally retrieve the Blazing Sword. But it was too late, for as he turned Voltron saw a massive explosion rip its way through the stone fortress, and the Castle of Lions finally collapsed in flames, destroyed... 

"Well, that takes care of that," Spinner said. "Rather anticlimacti...WHA?!"

"WHAT THE?!" Sakura agreed with his last statement, not believing her own eyes at that moment as a low rumbling reached her ears.

"HOW...?!" Yurak was just as stunned. 

"NO! PRINCESS ALLURA!" Keith screamed as he watched the last of the castle fall, then gaped. "What the?!"

"No way!" Lance, piloting the red lion, agreed.

"Where'd that come from?!" Hunk's brain was on definite short circuit.

"Whoa!" Sven had to agree as well.

"Someone musta worked all night!" Pidge, in the green lion, quipped. 

As the old castle's final remains burned away, a new, technologically advanced castle rose from its ashes like a proverbial phoenix, shining in glorious metal construction, red paint anointing the top of its four isosceles towers and pointed central spire, the front face of the new fortress bearing the same emblem as on Voltron's chest, albeit forty times larger. And in the same moment the weathered stone and mortar of the pedestal upon which black lion rested between missions fell away, revealing a high tech metal pedestal beneath. The new castle finished its ascent from below the ground, now resting perfectly where the old castle once stood, the remaining rubble burning out quietly around it. The Castle of Lions had been reborn! 

"Impossible!" Yurak gaped, stilled stunned at the latest unexpected turn of events. "How could a whole new castle pop up out of nowhere?!"

"Wha...wha...wha.." Sakura stammered, trying to reconnect her brain to her mouth, then started waving a pointed finger angrily at the castle on the monitor screen. "That's CHEATING!" she shrieked, then suddenly the whole ship rocked. "Huh?" she blinked, then lost her balance and fell backwards on her rump with a slight "ah!" Yurak also gave a grunt of surprise. Spinner, meanwhile, had watched all impassively, just trying to figure out if there was a way to pull out a victory at this point, and had reflexively taken to the air when the ship had unexpectedly jarred.

"What was that?" Yurak asked, his brain finally returning to the problem at hand. A laser blast emanated from the new castle, and smacked the command ship again, once more rocking it and blasting a fiery hole in the side. Additional shots fired, hitting various parts of the ship, causing damage and shaking things up.

"Someone's shooting at us?" Spinner blinked, still floating in the air.

"Who?" Sakura asked, then barked at the bridge officers, "Magnify!"

"Yes, ma'am!" one replied and hit some controls, a small square centering on the source of the blast, and magnifying that part of the castle to reveal a double turret gun, and at the helm...

"A woman?!" Yurak blinked, for there, manning the weapon, was a young woman, late teens to early twenties, flowing blond hair down her back to her waist, a white-silver tiara on her forehead, striking blue eyes, and a rather beautiful pink and white dress that went down to cover her feet.

"That's it?" Sakura blinked, then rose her staff as she got to her feet. "Why you little...!" But before she could do anything, another shot from the woman's double cannon rocked the ship again, and Sakura fell forward with another yelp, this time landing on her face. "Could we get out of her range, please?" she asked from the floor.

"Agreed," Yurak decided, his ship having taken more than enough pounding for one day. "Pull back!" 

The command ship immediately backpedaled away from the castle, quickly taking itself out of the cannon's range of fire. Princess Allura watched them go, then turned and fired at Deathhell, who was still in range. Deathhell dodged quickly to avoid the blasts, but Allura showed no pity, firing almost relentlessly, her four little mice friends popping up on her shoulders to watch.

"Son of a bitch!" she snapped out, and the mice covered their little mouths in shock at such language escaping the Princess's lips. Then Deathhell managed to move aside, and her last shot came a little too close to Voltron, who had returned his attention to the robeast now that Allura was safe, the robot leaping into the air to avoid the blast.

"Oops, sorry!" Allura apologized. Voltron lifted the Blazing Sword over his head, taking advantage of the moment , and swung down on Deathhell, who had leapt into the air after his prey, and sliced the robeast in half vertically from head to waist, straight down the middle! Deathhell crackled with electricity for a moment, then exploded apart into nothing, another victory for Voltron. If, albeit, a come-from-behind one.

The robeast destroyed and the battle most decisively lost to them, the command ship turned and launched into the upper atmosphere, quickly departing Arus again in retreat to Galra. 

"I don't believe it," Sakura, having again regained her footing, stared in disbelief. "What went wrong?"

"I think the more appropriate question is, what didn't go wrong?" Yurak said, a growl in his throat. He was not looking forward to reporting this to Zarkon. In fact, neither of them were.

* * *

And thus the Castle of Lions gets a much needed face lift! I must say, I did not think at the outset it required this long a chapter, but I like it nonetheless. And as to the children slaves seen in this chapter, yes, the human ones are all CCS regulars (well, semi-regulars, anyway), in their original series being classmates of Sakura's. And to those fans of CCS who do know the characters, I haven't forgotten Tomoyo, I just haven't decided how or if I can fit her in to this. The three alien children are OCs I threw in for a little variety in the scene. As to Yamazaki's retelling of the Voltron "origin" story, well, after twelve thousand years, just how many different ways do _you_ think that story's been muddled? i would also like to apologize for the lateness of this update, real life has been more "interesting" than I would've cared for in the last two years or so...

Okay, enough babbling, onto the next chapter, and a hero's dismissal! That's right, Sven, it's d-day for you! Hehheheh...

Scorpinac

vampireemp – Okay, I'm only going to say this once – LotorXSakura=eeeewwwweee to the millionth power! Now, Prince Bandor, on the other hand...

LotornoMiko – I'm glad you approve, and have to admit I wasn't really trying to gain sympathy for Yurak, but hey. As to sparing him, we'll see, but no promises.


	7. A Hero Falls

Chapter 7: A Hero Falls

The damaged Galra command ship retreated to low orbit, still just inside the atmosphere, but hopefully just far enough away from the new castle to be out of any sort of sensor range, and made repairs as quickly as they could. Yurak also sent out an order to Imperial Navy Command for a reinforcement fleet of Star Cutters, demanding at least forty be dispatched to him at once. Sakura, meanwhile, maintained the command ship's atmospheric pressure with her magic until the hull damage had been successfully repaired and reinforced for safety's sake, then promptly went to the lounge to plop down on a couch to rest – that level of even temporary continuous use had heavily drained her. She quickly dropped into a light doze.

Several hours, and for Sakura a hearty meal and something good to drink, later, and the command ship was ready to go again, the forty reinforcement Star Cutters having arrived. Sakura, having just finished said meal and drink, returned to the command ship's bridge, and took quick notice of the shored up numbers.

"Are we going to attack again already?" she asked, slightly incredulous.

"So it would seem," Spinner commented from her shoulder; he had joined her in the meal, having used up some of his own power to shore her's up during the repair work.

"Yes," Yurak told them. "If nothing else, we can at least make sure that new Castle of Lions meets the same fate as the old one. Or, if nothing else, get a better idea of it's defensive capabilities."

"Well, it's not like they can have that many people in there to man the weapons other than that woman from before, right?" Sakura pointed out.

"When we retreated they had no one, yes," Yurak replied. "But we've been monitoring on long range sensors the whole time, and dozens of Arusians have been popping out of the hills and other hiding places and flocking to the place, so now they have dozens of people at their disposal."

"Ah, that could change things a little," Spinner noted.

"Not to mention we don't have a replacement robeast," Sakura added. "I don't suppose you called ma...Master Haggar and ordered one?"

"No, Zarkon would know almost instantly, and I'd rather not bring him into the loop just yet," Yurak stated.

"Ooookay..." Sakura said, and left it at that, though she wondered how Zarkon could not know about a fleet of forty ships leaving the planet.

"All ships and stations ready to go, sir," an officer informed them.

"Very, well," Yurak said. "All ships, forward to the new Castle of Lions!" With that, the command ship and Star Cutters surged forward, returning to the new castle for a re-engagement. It took about five to ten minutes for the castle to once again come into view, and Sakura immediately noted all of the horses and caravan equipment parked just outside. People were bustling about moving things around. Yurak was right, the Arusians had flocked to the new castle in droves. Yurak just sneered at what he saw before him.

"Attention all hands, we're approaching the target!" he declared, the coms open to all ships. "Hit them hard, crush the castle, take no prisoners! Attack until it's destroyed!"

The Star Cutters and command ship opened fire, blasting away at the new castle. Within a few moments several dozen weapons platforms and laser based guns were shifted into position to aim at the approaching enemy, two of the towers actually rotating with cannons emerging from the slants, and let loose with a torrent of counter fire. Sadly for the fleet, and not that unexpectedly, the Voltron lions also launched from their resting places and into the air, and between them and the multitude of laser fire from the castle, the available forty Star Cutters was soon knocked down to thirteen.

The command ship also took a few hits, but this time, having a better idea of what to expect, the initial damage wasn't as bad, forward shields being powered to maximum. Some shots, though, did manage to pierce the shields, and scored more damaging blows to the ship. Sakura noted the woman from before again taking up a cannon even as the previous operator was felled by a laser blast from a well aimed gun on one of the Star Cutters, and the red lion was making use of a new weapon, a square shaped cannon with two round blast holes, which launched deadly missiles. She also noted, to her dismay, that the damage to the yellow lion's head had been repaired, not that there had been that much damage to begin with.

"Quick, destroy them before they can form Voltron!" Yurak ordered, and the command ships' weapons refocused, attempting to hit the five lions. The lions, apparently taking the hint, quickly formed up, rising speedily into the air in combination position. Sakura focused on the lions carefully, trying to decide which one the little human might be flying, but then gave up and just aimed her staff for the red one at random.

"Let's see if we can delay that one a little bit!" she declared, unleashing her magical might to grab and hold down the red lion. Her magic scored, grabbing hold of the lion in question and momentarily stopping it in its tracks.

"What the?" Lance blinked when his lion suddenly halted in mid-air.

"What's wrong, Lance?" Keith asked over the lions' intercom.

"My lion just stalled!" he replied.

"Yes, there seems to be some kind of energy beam around you emanating from the command ship," Sven noted.

"It looks like the same thing that boosted that last robeast," Hunk commented.

"But what is it?" Pidge asked. "And how can it be multifunctional?"

"I'd rather know how to turn it off!" Lance called, and then several laser blasts slammed right near him, making the lion shake badly.

"Ha! Got him!" Sakura cried out happily. "Let's see them get out of this one!"

"Ha, good work, Witch Sakura, well done!" Yurak praised her, then turned to the bridge crew. "Blow that lion out of the sky!"

"Uh, Sakura, Yurak, did you, perhaps, forget something?" Spinner asked.

"Hm?" they blinked at him, and at that moment the ship rocked from a well placed blow from one of the many weapons firing in their direction from the castle below.

"Oh, yeah, that..." they realized as Sakura's beam cut off abruptly due to losing her balance for a moment.

"Oh, that worked!" Lance smiled, noting the restraining beam suddenly ceasing after the command ship took a hit from the castle. The lions resumed their current plan, and immediately began joining together once again.

"Oh, no..." Sakura moaned as Voltron was formed. Voltron immediately broke out the Blazing Sword and attacked the command ship, slicing across the topmost part of the ship, right near the bridge. Everything shook hard, a small explosion ripping through the top of the ship.

"GAHHH! Abandon the attack! All units return to planet Galra!" Yurak ordered, and the command ship and surviving Star Cutters, all nine of them, quickly turned and retreated into space, leaving planet Arus behind them.

The trip back to Galra was mildly lengthened to allow for some of the more immediately required repairs to make sure the ship could get back undeterred, but return it did. This time, though, Yurak instructed Sakura to wait outside the throne room while he went in and reported to Zarkon.

"I doubt he knows you joined this excursion, so why get both of us killed?" he stated.

"You sure?" Sakura asked, uncertain about this strategy.

"No, but I'm doing it anyway," Yurak replied, and entered the throne room, Sakura waiting outside nervously, holding the door open a crack to see how it went.

"Think he'll be back?" Spinner asked from her shoulder.

"I don't know," Sakura admitted. She watched carefully as Yurak walked calmly up to the base of the stairs leading to the throne itself, and kneeled down on the floor.

"Sire, I have come to report on the recent events on planet Arus," he intoned, and Zarkon glared.

"Well, is Voltron destroyed?" he asked, a growl in his voice.

"I'm afraid not, Sire," Yurak replied. "Unforeseen events caused us to lose the battle, and have shifted the odds against us and into the Arusians favor."

"WHAT?!" Zarkon roared, leaping to his feet and turning to look toward the door Yurak had entered through. "Witch Sakura, get in here! I know you're at that door!" Sakura let out a small shriek of surprise, and quickly entered the room, dropping to her knees beside Yurak. Spinner was glued to her shoulder the whole time, and quickly moved to try and hide behind her head as she presented herself to the evil King.

"Yes, Sire, whatever you want, Sire," she said, Haggar giving her an apologetic glance from her seat near the throne. Cova was sitting in her lap, watching all quietly.

"Now what happened down there?!" Zarkon demanded.

"It was going great at first, Sire!" Sakura stated, slightly frantic, before Yurak could stop her. "Deathhell was easily matching Voltron, and even damaged him! And while he was doing that, we turned and fired on the Castle of Lions to destroy it, and we did! But then a new castle popped up in its place, like a daisy! And a woman fired on us so we had to pull back, and then..."

"ENOUGH!" Zarkon cut her off, his anger boiling. "A new castle, Yurak?"

"Yes, Sire," Yurak confirmed. "It came out of the ground from below where the original castle stood. There was no warning. The new castle is of metal construction and very high tech from all appearances." Zarkon growled, his anger rising by the second.

"And the robeast?" Haggar asked, though she already suspected the answer.

"After we pulled back to avoid getting shot the woman shot him, and Voltron, well, do I really need to say it?" Sakura answered, praying that when Zarkon blew the end would be fast and at least slightly merciful.

"We pulled in some reinforcements and attacked the new castle again not long afterward," Yurak picked up. "It didn't go well."

"Then take the entire fleet if you have to, and crush that castle into the ground!" Zarkon shouted at them.

"That would be ill advised, Sire," Yurak replied. "As I was about to report, several dozen surviving Arusians have emerged from hiding and congregated at the new castle, thus giving them more than enough soldiers to man the castle's various technological weaponry. Plus, they still have the Voltron robot."

"Excuses!" Zarkon screamed, then paused, blinking as something that had been said earlier finally reached his twisted brain. "Did you say a _woman_ fired on you from the new castle the first time, alone?"

"Yes, Sire," Sakura responded quickly. "A blond haired woman in a pink dress."

"Use your powers to show us an image of the woman, my dear," Haggar suggested, and Sakura nodded. She pointed her staff to the throne room monitor, sending a burst of energy to it. A moment later a perfect image of the woman, Allura, at the twin laser cannons of the Castle of Lions appeared on the monitor. Zarkon and Haggar stared at the image before them, surprise all over their faces. Zarkon recovered first, once again growling.

"Haggar," he hissed, "Why does that woman resemble the Queen of Arus I had killed fifteen years ago?"

"Coincidence, Sire?" Sakura suggested, then quickly quieted when Zarkon shot her a vicious glance, reflexively jerking her staff in front of herself defensively. Zarkon turned back to Haggar, who had also recovered at this point.

"It would seem the royal family came into a last second addition at some point not too long before we attacked and thought we destroyed the planet," Haggar admitted. "To think, one member of the royal family actually survived. I deeply regret this oversight, my liege."

"On the other hand, Sire, this does explain a few things," Sakura offered, realization coming to her with the revelation of the mystery woman's lineage. Zarkon glanced back at her, raising one eye, and Sakura quickly continued. "Well, a member of the royal family _would _know about the secret hiding spots of Voltron and how to get to them from inside the castle without leaving through the front door, right? So she's probably the one who gave the lions to the five humans who escaped from us before, right?"

"Yes, my evil apprentice, that makes much sense," Haggar agreed. "She would most likely have known the secret of Voltron, and all too willingly shared it with the humans to counter us. My dear, it is time to act." She turned to Zarkon, a twisted smile on her face. "Sire, I shall go to Arus, bringing my most perfect assistant."

"Oh?" Zarkon glanced to his main witch. "What did you have in mind, Witch?"

"Assassination, Sire," Haggar answered. "It has clearly proven impossible to eliminate all five lions, but if we can lure out the pilots, and succeed in eliminating even one, then Voltron will be useless; and afterward this new Castle of Lions will be more vulnerable to attack, if we approach it correctly."

"Succeed, Witch. Eliminate Voltron, or else!" Zarkon growled.

"Voltron will trouble you no more, sire," Haggar promised, then turned to her apprentice. "Come, Sakura, I want you to join me for this, it is time for you to taste the sweet nectar of blood first hand."

"Yes, mam...Master Haggar!" Sakura replied, leaping to her feet at the chance to escape from Zarkon's sight once more. Haggar rose to her own feet, Cova dropping to the floor, and they strode down the steps to the apprentice, and they quickly left the throne room together, Spinner _still _clinging to his mistress.

"As for you, Yurak," Zarkon turned his attention back to his Fleet Commander.

"Yes, Sire?" Yurak replied. He just knew he was sweating buckets.

Out in the dark fields of Galra, the two strolled through a series of spire rocks toward where Haggar kept her personal space coffins. The area around the coffins was littered with the bones and skulls of the dead. The wind knocked one skull off a spire, depositing it at the feet of a somewhat insect-like robeast. Dark blue to the point of being nearly black, it had spikes jutting out of the back of its lower legs, and one from each shoulder pointed forward at a forty-five degree angle. The feet had but four toes each, two from the front and two from the back. The "skin" was actually a hard chitinous armor, the shoulders jutting out to the side slightly like shoulder pads. One hand was relatively human-like, while the other was a huge, menacing pincer capable of rending much damage. The head was round, bald, and held a pair of pupil-less yellow eyes that shone with hostility. Its mouth sat slightly open, revealing needle-like razor sharp teeth; the fangs were elongated, nearly five inches each.

The two witches turned upon hearing him take a step, spying him instantly. Cova gave a slight yowl in his direction, and Spinner just glanced, remaining impassive.

"Ah, there you are, Galcia, my magnificent blue fiend!" Haggar addressed him. "My apprentice and I have a task for you. We're going to take a little trip, to where you can crush and destroy things to your heart's content after you help us kill the five humans who escaped us." Galcia roared in delight at the offer.

"Just save the smallest one for last, okay?" Sakura said. "I wanna torment him a little first." Haggar cackled happily at her apprentice's request.

"We'll see, dearie, we'll see," she said, then turned back to Galcia. "Come now, let us go." Haggar turned and led the unlikely group past a few more spires to where a pair of black space coffins sat waiting, and boarded one with Cova while Galcia climbed into the other.

"Uh, what about...?" Sakura asked.

"Just climb in with me, dearie," Haggar said. "There's plenty of room."

"Okay," Sakura replied, and carefully climbed in with her mentor, Spinner flitting down to rest upon the coffin's cushy inner lining beside her. "Why are we taking coffins instead of a full ship?"

"To cut down the likelihood of the humans and their Arusian allies detecting us with whatever tracking equipment this new castle may provide them," Haggar explained.

"Here we go again," Spinner muttered, and the coffins closed. They blasted off a few moments later, zooming through space to planet Arus. The trip took several hours, during which the two familiars dozed while Haggar took the opportunity to verbally quiz Sakura on her spell casting, magical history, and potion making knowledge, Sakura passing with an eighty-nine percent. Finally the space coffins reached Arus, and landed in a mountainous area northeast of the Castle of Lions. They opened, and the passengers disembarked, Haggar cackling to herself in twisted glee at the job soon to come.

Sakura, meanwhile, took a glance around the area, and quietly marveled at how different it was from Galra. It was the middle of the night, but she could still see the rich vegetation in all its colors, and a cool, clean wind blew. She actually found herself hoping that, when all was said and done, the planet wouldn't be too ravaged from its re-conquest; she'd like dearly to take a full-on vacation here someday. She had a dim, ghostly memory of living someplace green when she was little, and for a moment she was filled with nostalgia and a quiet longing.

"Now we wait til sunrise," Haggar instructed, and all nodded in assent.

The next day was bright and beautiful, and Princess Allura decided to take a cart of food out to the nearby ruined city to give it out to the people, the five Voltron pilots going with her as guards and assistants. Haggar and Sakura had quietly slipped into the city remains during the early morning light of the day, and now watched Allura and the humans from the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity. The little human, the large one, and the moody one in the brown jacket, 'Lance' Sakura recalled his name being, separated off for a while, calling out to everyone that it was safe to come out and receive the food. The people were slow at first, but by planetary noon several dozen, many of them children, emerged from their hiding places and followed the three to the cart, the Princess happily handing out fruits, vegetables, and bread to the hungry and half-broken people. She even gave one lucky little boy three lollipops!

At one point three women approached Allura, tears in their eyes.

"Princess," one breathed.

"She looks just like her mother!" a slightly older one said. "Oh, the memories!"

"We're so happy you've grown up safely," the third said, and they all went to their knees and kissed the back of Allura's hand, swearing eternal fealty. Sakura, watching the emotional display, felt like she might become ill from all the sweetness. At this point she and Haggar held a position behind a wall several feet away from their targets, said unsuspecting fools having their backs turned to the two waiting witches.

"Alright, now we just have to lure them away to us, and we'll have them!" Haggar quietly cackled. Sakura thought about that, and beamed in inspiration.

"I have an idea," she commented with a grin.

"Pretty good turn out, huh?" Lance commented as another peasant partook of a loaf of bread.

"Yes, they're really happy," Sven agreed, cheer on his face. Just then the little blue mouse sitting on Pidge's shoulder squeaked in surprise, causing the young human to turn in curiosity.

"What is it, Platt?" he asked, then blinked. "Oh..." For there, walking nervously towards them from the rear, was a little girl, right around Pidge's own age. Her mousy brown hair looked ruffled and unkempt, her emerald eyes filled with uncertainty, her simple brown dress and brown shoes ragged and overused.

"Hm?" Sven and Lance looked, too, then smiled warmly at the child.

"It's okay, little one, there's plenty for you, too," Sven told her.

"Yeah, come on and dig in," Lance agreed. The little girl smiled slightly, and took a couple more steps forward, when a sudden cat like roar sounded, and a black mass jumped out, knocking the child to the ground. The girl did the only logical thing, she gave out a scream of terror.

"What the?!" Lance stared.

"What is that thing?!" Pidge asked in shock as it turned to stare at them with fierce sapphire orbs. At first blush it looked to be a large black panther or puma, its ears standing straight up as though cropped, but several details were off. First was the yellow-white bow with a bright blue sphere at its center that the creature seemed to wear on it's chest. Second was the sapphire-like crystal in the shape of two half-pyramids connected at the bottoms, seemingly embedded in the creature's forehead. And finally, were the two giant black-edged blue butterfly wings emanating from the feline's back.

"Is it a robeast?" Pidge asked. The thing actually seemed to 'humph' at that notion, as if understanding his query, then it roared, turned back to the child, and grabbed her by the dress with its jaws, and jumped into the air, its two large wings beating hard, and it flew off, the girl crying in fear and panic.

"Hurry, we gotta save her before it eats her!" Lance cried and dashed off in pursuit.

"Wait! Don't go alone!" Sven cried after him. Sven started to run after Lance and the creature and girl as well, then stopped, quickly dashed back to where Pidge was, and grabbed a sword left leaning by the wall. He then took off after Lance as fast as he could.

Lance ran as fast as possible to catch the monster cat, hoping beyond hope that the little girl it had grabbed would be okay.

'What is that thing?' he pondered to himself. 'Is that some sort of native wildlife? Allura never mentioned anything about butterfly-winged panthers, but what other options are there?' He quickly turned a corner and blinked. The little girl had been deposited on the ground, unmoving, and the cat creature was nowhere to be seen. He quickly dashed over to the little girl, and was relieved to find her still alive and well.

"It's okay, kid," he told her reassuringly. "Whatever it was, it's gone, you're safe now." The girl looked up in awe.

"You really came to save me," she almost looked like she was about to cry, then her face suddenly took on a twisted, evil smile. "You really are dumber than you look!"

"Huh?" Lance found himself jumping to his feet and back a step, but it was too late as a net of pure energy suddenly lashed out and snared him. An old Galran hag in brown robes stood on the other end of the net holding the wooden staff from which the net came, a blue Galran cat at her feet. "What?!"

The little girl giggled evilly and jumped to her feet, her peasant appearance dissolving to return Sakura to her true one, her staff reappearing in her hand.

"See, mama Haggar, it worked!" she said to the old woman.

"Yes, my evil apprentice, your plan was as beautiful as it was brilliant!" Haggar agreed, a vicious smile on her lips.

"You're...you're with her?!" Lance stared, his mind not able to believe that a human child could willingly help anyone from planet Doom, let alone this old hag. "Who are you?!"

"Not that it really matters, since we're going to kill you," Haggar sneered, "But since you asked, I am Haggar, High Witch to King Zarkon. And this is my chosen Apprentice and heir..."

"Witch Sakura!" Sakura gleefully introduced herself. "Pity the little human didn't come, too."

"Little human? You mean Pidge?" Lance blinked, surprised yet again by this child.

"Pidge?" Sakura blinked. "The cute one's – I mean the little one's name is Pidge?" Haggar cackled merrily at Sakura's attempt to verbally backpedal as she took hold of the net with her hands and started to pull Lance in to his death.

"Cute?" Lance whispered. "Oh, gods..."

"Yes, puberty is upon her, we know," a male voice chimed, and Lance glanced to the side to see Spinner laying calmly atop the weathered and broken wall to his right, watching all with an air of detachment. "Hello," he said to the human.

"What?!" Lance's brain seemed to momentarily lock up again.

"My familiar, Spinner Sun," Sakura explained. "Does that clear everything up? Are you ready to die now?"

"Hell with that!" Lance finally found the strength to snap into action, and reached into his coat, pulling out a laser pistol. Sakura saw this and immediately blasted him with a burst of energy from her staff, knocking the weapon from his hand before he could even aim.

"Shit!" Lance swore, now truly fearing for his life. Haggar was dragging him closer, and closer, and closer...

"STOP!" a voice cried out, getting their attention, and Sven dashed up, swinging his sword in an upward arc and severing the net mid way between Lance and Haggar. Lance fell backwards on his rear with the drag finally removed.

"Thanks, Sven," Lance gasped. Sven gave him a nod, then turned to the two witches.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, having only caught the last three or four lines of commentary before he arrived, and even that in the distance.

"Like I said before, we're here to take your lives!" Haggar cackled. "Isn't that right, my wicked student?"

"That's the plan!" Sakura agreed, then glanced in the direction Sven had come running in from. "Is that Pidge guy coming, too?"

"No, he stayed behi...why do you care?" Sven started to answer, then blinked.

"I think she has a crush on him," Lance replied, and Sven actually gave a little shudder.

"To think, a human actually working with the forces of planet Doom," Sven muttered.

"It's called Galra, actually," Sakura corrected him. Sven just tsked, then turned slightly to his comrade in arms.

"Quickly, Lance, run back and tell Keith, and make sure they get Princess Allura back to the castle safely. I'll hold them here," he instructed, Lance nodding in acknowledgment. He got up and dashed quickly back the way he came. Sven calmly turned his attention back to the witches.

"It doesn't matter," Haggar continued to smile evilly. "Either one of you will do!"

"Should have tried to run while you could!" Sakura taunted. "Hope you enjoy your death!"

"Only one of us dies today!" Sven declared, and charged, his sword held aloft, ready to swing, his aim pointed straight at Haggar. 'If I can kill the old witch,' he reasoned, 'it should break whatever mind control spell is on the little girl!' He quickly closed the distance, and swung down, and for a moment it looked like he would slice the old witch in two vertically. But just as it looked like he was going to hit her, she split into three duplicates, the sword tasting only air.

Sven blinked, then swung again, and again; on his next swing Sakura took a step forward and his heart nearly stopped when he thought he was about to send his sword through the girl's head, only for Sakura to split into a series of duplicates as well. Both witches cackled and laughed merrily at his plight as he stepped back, only for the multiple witches to start circling around him, the Haggars clockwise and the Sakuras counterclockwise. Sven's eyes were darting back and forth, trying to see through the illusion before it was too late.

"Which one, which one," he muttered aloud. "Which one is it?"

"Hehehe, oh, yes, which ones are the real ones?!" Sakura singsonged and laughed at him, Haggar just continuing to cackle away. Spinner suddenly appeared in his face with a quick "BOO!" before he chuckled and fluttered back away from the trapped human. Sven was startled by the familiar's appearance, and his disorientation increased. The moving witches then stopped, and each released a blast from their staffs, Sakura hitting him in the chest and Haggar in the face, blinding him. The blasts were powerful enough to draw out a scream of pain from their victim as Sven desperately covered his eyes to try and save them.

"What?!" Keith stared at Lance. "Sven's fighting Zarkon's witch alone?!"

"What about that little girl and the thing that grabbed her?!" Pidge asked, worried for the child.

"The thing vanished, and the girl was a lure," Lance said. "She's the witch's apprentice!"

"Apprentice?!" Hunk stared in shock. "But I thought you said she was human?!" Keith immediately came to a decision.

"Hunk, Pidge, get the Princess back to the castle, guard her with your lives!" he ordered.

"Right, Commander!" Hunk said, and turned and grabbed Allura's arm, the Princess still diligently handing out food to the people. "Time to go, Princess," Hunk told her, and he and Pidge wasted no time getting her on a horse, each taking one for themselves, and the three rode for the castle. The people were surprised and confused, and began to murmur in fear. Meanwhile Keith turned back to Lance.

"Lead the way, and let's hurry," he said.

"Right, this way," Lance replied, and turned and ran back towards where he left Sven and the witches, Keith hot on his heels.

Sven breathed carefully, focusing his mind as he closed his eyes and reached out with his other senses. His training did its work, and soon he could "sense" that the real Haggar and Sakura were directly in front of him, not actually moving at all.

"I have you now!" he called, and charged, sword once more held aloft. He got right up next to them and swung down, Haggar abandoning her spell to block his sword with her staff. Sakura also ditched her illusion to thrust her own staff into Sven's lower ribs, momentarily slowing him as he took a step back. At that point Cova took action, leaping from the ground onto Sven's left shoulder and clawing and biting at him, Spinner zooming forward to chomp on his sword hand in an effort to make him drop it.

Sven struggled to get Cova off and swing Spinner away at the same time, when the last blow came from Galcia's claw hand coming down on his right shoulder from behind, delivering crippling internal damage. Cova flipped back to the ground as Spinner also fell back, Sven's sword flipping through the air and landing in the ground point first, standing straight up. Sven himself staggered on his feet only a moment longer, then fell to the ground, laying face down. Galcia circled around him, growled, then swung down on the prone and helpless human one last time, again with its claw hand, eliciting one last scream of pain from Sven - his last.

Approaching footsteps drew their attention, and Haggar made a decision.

"Sounds like two or more," she said. "They'll be ready this time, best to withdraw for now." Using her magic to calm Galcia, she and the robeast, Cova, and Spinner turned and began to depart. Sakura stared at the felled Sven a moment longer before turning and following after her master.

She wasn't sure why, after all she had seen countless slaves and robeasts fall and die in the arena, but for some reason seeing Sven's last moments...bothered her.

A few moments later Keith and Lance came around the corner, and saw their comrade lying on the ground, a small pool of blood starting to form beneath him.

"SVEN!" Keith yelled, and they ran over to him, carefully turning him over onto his back.

"Sven! Sven! Stay with us!" they cried, trying to put pressure on the bleeding and keep him alive.

"Go back," Sven whispered. "Go back to the castle...they have a new robeast...I so wanted...to see the...kingdom...restored with...my own eyes..." And with that, Sven went still forever, his forgotten sword finally toppling over to the ground with a light clack as he did.

"Sven!" Keith yelled.

"No!" Lance cried. But it was no use. He was gone.

A hero had passed into the eternal night.

A couple of hours later at the castle, the four remaining humans, Allura, and her advisor Coran, stood in moratorium over Sven, laid out before them in his coffin in a quiet room hastily set up for the impromptu viewing. The mood all around was sorrow. They all stood quietly, looking on at the coffin, tears in their eyes, none wanting to completely accept the tragedy. Finally, Pidge stepped up to the coffin that lay set upon the floor, and dropped to his knees.

"Why?" he whispered. "Why'd you have to die, Sven? We'd just gotten started..."

"We got careless after we won, and let down our guard at the worst moment," Keith quietly replied as Allura flopped to her knees, the grief overtaking her. She'd only known Sven for little more than a week, but had come to care for him as a good friend, as she had the others, and the pain of losing him was more than she thought it'd be. "And now Sven's paid the ultimate price..." Keith continued. As Pidge and Allura sobbed, Lance moved slightly closer to his remaining adult comrades.

"We have another problem," he whispered to Keith and Hunk. "The little girl, the apprentice, she wants Pidge."

"Huh?" Keith blinked at him.

"What do you mean, she 'wants' him?" Hunk asked, also whispering as he figured Lance didn't want anyone else to hear this, at least not yet.

"When they were taunting me, she called him...the 'cute one'," Lance slowly admitted, and Keith and Hunk's eyes rose slightly as the full implications sank in. "I don't think we should tell him, not yet," Lance added, concerned for his youngest friend's well being.

"Yeah," Hunk agreed. "He has enough to worry about for right now."

"We'll figure out when and how to tell him later," Keith consented, and they all again lapsed into silence, their minds returning to their lost friend.

Out in the nearby desert, right on the edge before the landscape gave way once more to the more greener areas leading toward the castle, Haggar and Sakura sat waiting, Cova in Haggar's arm and Spinner on Sakura's shoulder. The robeast Galcia stood twelve feet in front of them, awaiting orders and making small sounds in its throat. The quiet of the moment was disturbed by the roar of a ship's engines as Yurak's command ship floated into range, the Commander having arrived quickly once Haggar sent word of their success at dispatching one of the five wretched humans.

Sakura, for one, was pleased to see the command ship. While traveling by space coffin had it's...advantages...she most definitely preferred the comfort of the full travel quarters provided aboard the huge ship for officers and important personnel. The ship moved until it was just over Galcia, then halted.

"Energize and enlarge the robeast!" Yurak's voice came over a loudspeaker, and Galcia was blasted with the energizing beam to flood the creature with power and enlarge it to ten times its original size. It roared in pleasure and stormed off towards the Castle of Lions.

"That's it, Galcia, my wicked fiend," Haggar cackled. "With one human slain, they can no longer form Voltron, so nothing stands in your way! Journey to the Castle of Lions and level it to the ground! Crush all within!"

"And if they send out the other lions," Sakura added, ignoring a heavy feeling in her stomach, "tear their legs off and toss'em in the lake, we'll fetch them later!" Haggar glanced at her apprentice as Galcia roared over his shoulder and continued forward. Sakura glanced back to her mentor and smiled. "We could still use the lions for the glory of the empire, provided they're not totally destroyed and irreparable, right?" she asked. Haggar thought that through, and smiled back.

"Very true, my dearie, well thought," she lauded her student. At that point the command ship landed and they quickly boarded, joining Yurak on the bridge to watch the coming show. Yurak gave them a brief nod of acknowledgment as they arrived.

Outside, Galcia charged through the ruined city, smashing through old buildings like they were stacks of children's blocks, moving ever forward to the castle. He was about half way there when the four lions appeared, and immediately jumped the robeast, determined to gain victory without the power of the mighty Voltron. Galcia batted them off with ease, and black lion rebounded, two tube like cannons appearing on it this time, one at each shoulder, and fired. The two missiles smacked Galcia dead on, but the monster barely noticed, and responded by opening a hidden compartment in its knee and firing a missile of its own. The black and yellow lions dodged just barely in time as the missile hit the ground.

Galcia then fired more missiles from the tubes on the back of his wrists, and the lions fled, Galcia giving chase until they were backed up to the edge of a cliff overlooking the cauldron of a semi-live volcano, molten lava bubbling and waiting below. The four lions halted, seemed to survey the problem ahead, and then turned to face the robeast behind, Galcia stomping towards them to defeat them and win the battle.

"Hehheh, so much for the mighty Voltron," Yurak grinned. "Without the complete set of lions, they're helpless."

"Indeed, our evil work has succeeded wonderfully," Haggar agreed, a cackle on her lips.

"And to think, the guy we nailed flew the blue one," Sakura observed, taking note of which lion was absent. Then a thought passed through her head. "But isn't the blue one one of Voltron's legs? Can't they just form him without and hop around on one foot or just fly long enough to destroy Galcia?" she pondered. Haggar and Yurak blanched at the thought.

"I...can't really see why not..." Yurak admitted.

"If they could, they would have done it by now," Haggar stated firmly. "Voltron cannot be formed without all five lions, it's as simple as that."

"Oh, okay, if you say so," Sakura conceded, and they lapsed into silence for a moment.

"Although," Spinner chimed in. "You gotta admit, the idea of Voltron bouncing on just one leg is kind of funny." They all imagined that for a moment, and chuckled merrily at the thought of a hopping, one-legged Voltron. Then the battle between the lions and Galcia took an unexpected turn.

The red lion strode bravely forward a few steps, Galcia roaring at it in challenge, and the other three dashed away to the sides, swinging around behind the robeast. Before Galcia could look to see what they were up to, red lion jumped onto him, biting down hard on Galcia's shoulder and drawing a line of green blood. Galcia gave another roar, this one of pain and rage, and tried to shake off the red lion, then the other three launched into its back while it was distracted, shoving both robeast and red lion off the edge into the magma below. A few moments later the red lion emerged unharmed, rejoining his brothers.

Aboard the command ship, all were stunned quiet for a moment, not sure what to think.

"I did not see that coming," Sakura admitted finally.

"We were so close that time," Yurak groused.

"It matters not," Haggar smiled jovially. "One of the human pilots is dead, and Voltron can no longer be formed. Let them have their moment of luck, next time they'll all die." Haggar cackled happily to herself, and Yurak gave the command to return to planet Galra, their work for the moment done. Spinner just watched for a moment, and glanced at his mistress.

"Sakura, are you alright?" he asked quietly. She glanced back at him briefly.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, but it was actually far from the truth.

Sakura's mind was still whirling. On the one hand, she had aided in handing Galra a victory after multiple set-backs, and Haggar was now more proud of her than ever. On the other, she had aided in ending someone's life.

And somehow, though she wasn't sure why, that didn't seem to even remotely balance out...

That evening on Arus, Sven was buried serenely in a grave in a field just a small ways away from the castle, the remaining team members giving him a final salute while Allura left flowers in his coffin before it was sealed and buried. A marker was still being made, and would be placed later. There was nothing more to be said or done, and all they could do now was move forward...

* * *

And so Sven dies! What, did you think I was gonna keep the dub lie that he lived and was "injured"? Give me a little more credit than that! Next up, then, putting a Princess in a pilot's seat! And for those wondering just what that thing was that grabbed Sakura, that'll be revealed at another time, hehhehheh...

Scorpinac


End file.
